DISEASE CHARACTERISTICS:

• Histologically confirmed hematologic cancer or other disease, including any of the following:

  • Acute myeloid leukemia (AML)

    • Acute promyelocytic leukemia (APL) allowed provided patient has disease progression after standard chemotherapy, tretinoin, and arsenic trioxide
    • Patients > 60 years of age with previously untreated AML (except APL) who are not eligible for standard therapy are allowed
  • Acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL)

  • Chronic myelogenous leukemia (CML)

    • Accelerated or blastic phase disease
    • Documented hematologic resistance to imatinib mesylate OR no cytogenetic response to imatinib mesylate after 12 months of therapy

    • Chronic myelomonocytic leukemia or Philadelphia chromosome-negative CML allowed provided 1 of the following criteria is met:

      • Disease is not controlled by standard therapy (e.g., hydroxyurea)
      • Signs of disease progression on standard therapy (i.e., blast count > 5% and platelet count < 100,000/mm^3)

  • Myelodysplastic syndromes (MDS)

    • International Prognostic Scoring System (IPSS) score ≥ intermediate 1
    • Patients > 60 years of age with previously untreated MDS (with IPSS score ≥ intermediate 1) who are not eligible for standard therapy are allowed
  • Myeloproliferative disease (MPD)
• Relapsed, refractory, or poor prognosis disease
• No clinical evidence of CNS disease

PATIENT CHARACTERISTICS:

• ECOG performance status 0-2
• Life expectancy > 8 weeks
• Bilirubin ≤ 2 mg/dL
• AST or ALT ≤ 2.5 times upper limit of normal
• Creatinine ≤ 2 mg/dL
• Cardiac ejection fraction ≥ 50%
• Not pregnant or nursing
• Negative pregnancy test
• Fertile patients must use effective contraception
• No history of allergic reactions attributed to compounds of similar chemical or biologic composition to vorinostat (SAHA) or decitabine

• No other uncontrolled illness including, but not limited to, any of the following:

  • Ongoing or active infection
  • Symptomatic congestive heart failure
  • Unstable angina pectoris
  • Cardiac arrhythmia
  • Psychiatric illness or social situation that would limit compliance with study requirements

PRIOR CONCURRENT THERAPY:

• See Disease Characteristics

• At least 2 weeks since prior chemotherapy (6 weeks for nitrosoureas or mitomycin C) and recovered

  • Hydroxyurea allowed < 2 weeks prior to study entry and during the first course of study treatment if there is evidence of rapidly progressive disease

• No prior or other concurrent histone deacetylase (HDAC) inhibitors or compounds with HDAC inhibitor-like activity (e.g., valproic acid) as antitumor therapy

  • Patients who have received such agents for other indications (e.g., epilepsy) may enroll in study after a 30-day washout period
• No concurrent combination antiretroviral therapy for HIV-positive patients
• No other concurrent investigational agents
• No other concurrent anticancer agents or therapies

• No concurrent prophylactic hematopoietic colony-stimulating factors

  • Epoetin alfa or colony-stimulating factors allowed, per institutional guidelines, after the first course of study therapy