DISEASE CHARACTERISTICS:

• Diagnosis of 1 of the following indolent or aggressive B-cell non-Hodgkin's lymphoma (NHL) subtypes:

  • Grade 1-3 follicular lymphoma
  • Mantle cell lymphoma
  • Small lymphocytic lymphoma
  • Diffuse large B-cell lymphoma
  • Diffuse mixed cell lymphoma
  • Marginal zone lymphoma
• Relapsed or refractory CD20-positive disease
• Measurable disease
• Must have received ≥ 1 but < 4 prior standard chemotherapy regimens
• No Burkitt's lymphoma or precursor B-lymphoblastic lymphoma
• No CNS lymphoma

PATIENT CHARACTERISTICS:

Performance status

• Karnofsky 60-100%

Life expectancy

• At least 6 months

Hematopoietic

• Absolute neutrophil count ≥ 1,500/mm^3
• Platelet count ≥ 75,000/mm^3
• Hemoglobin > 7 g/dL

Hepatic

• AST or ALT < 2 times upper limit of normal (unless due to primary disease)
• Bilirubin ≤ 2 mg/dL

Renal

• Creatinine ≤ 2.0 mg/dL

Cardiovascular

• LVEF ≥ 50% by MUGA and/or 2-D echocardiogram
• No history of New York Heart Association class II-IV cardiac disease
• No congestive heart failure

Other

• Not pregnant or nursing
• Negative pregnancy test
• Fertile patients must use effective contraception
• No known HIV positivity
• No uncontrolled active bacterial, viral, or fungal infection
• No other serious disease that would preclude study participation
• No other primary malignancy within the past 5 years except squamous cell or basal cell skin cancer or carcinoma in situ of the cervix

PRIOR CONCURRENT THERAPY:

Biologic therapy

• Recovered from prior immunotherapy
• Prior immunotherapy, including rituximab or other monoclonal antibody, allowed

Chemotherapy

• See Disease Characteristics
• More than 4 weeks since prior chemotherapy and recovered
• No prior doxorubicin (or equivalent anthracycline) at a cumulative dose > 400 mg/m^2
• No other concurrent chemotherapy

Endocrine therapy

• Nonsteroidal hormones for nonlymphoma-related conditions (e.g., insulin for diabetes) allowed
• No concurrent corticosteroids except for a transient inflammatory reaction (i.e., skin rash or hives)

Radiotherapy

• Recovered from prior radiotherapy
• No concurrent radiotherapy

Surgery

• More than 4 weeks since prior major surgery (other than diagnostic surgery) and recovered

Other

• No other concurrent antitumor agents
• No other concurrent investigational agents