DISEASE CHARACTERISTICS:

• Histologically confirmed breast cancer, meeting 1 of the following criteria:

  • Locally advanced disease

    • Cannot be adequately treated by radiotherapy or surgery
  • Metastatic disease
• Ineligible for OR received prior anthracycline- and/or taxane-based chemotherapy with subsequent disease progression
• No uncontrolled CNS metastases
• Ineligible for treatment protocols of higher priority

• Hormone receptor status:

  • Not specified

PATIENT CHARACTERISTICS:

Age

• 18 and over

Sex

• Female

Menopausal status

• Not specified

Performance status

• ECOG 0-1 OR
• SWOG 0-1 OR
• Zubrod 0-1

Life expectancy

• At least 12 weeks

Hematopoietic

• Absolute neutrophil count greater than 1,500/mm^3
• Platelet count greater than 100,000/mm^3

Hepatic

• Bilirubin no greater than 1.5 times normal
• SGOT/SGPT no greater than 3 times normal

Renal

• Creatinine no greater than 2.0 mg/dL
• Calcium no greater than 12 mg/dL

Cardiovascular

• Cardiac ejection fraction greater than 50%
• No myocardial infarction or ischemia within the past 6 months
• No uncontrolled clinically significant dysrhythmia

Other

• Not pregnant or nursing
• Negative pregnancy test
• Fertile patients must use effective contraception
• Electrolytes normal
• Magnesium normal
• No other malignancy within the past 5 years except nonmelanoma skin cancer or carcinoma in situ of the cervix
• No prior or ongoing grade 2-4 peripheral neuropathy
• No comorbid condition that would render the patient at high risk from study treatment complications

PRIOR CONCURRENT THERAPY:

Biologic therapy

• No concurrent cytokine therapy

Chemotherapy

• See Disease Characteristics
• No more than 3 prior chemotherapy regimens for breast cancer
• No other concurrent chemotherapy

Endocrine therapy

• Not specified

Radiotherapy

• More than 2 weeks since prior radiotherapy
• No prior radiotherapy to an indicator lesion unless there is objective evidence of tumor growth in that lesion

• No concurrent radiotherapy except for the following:

  • Palliative or emergent radiotherapy
  • Local consolidative radiotherapy

Surgery

• More than 2 weeks since prior surgery
• Concurrent local consolidative surgery allowed

Other

• At least 4 weeks since prior antineoplastic agents for nonmalignant conditions (e.g., methotrexate for rheumatoid arthritis)
• No concurrent antineoplastic agents for nonmalignant conditions
• No concurrent participation in another treatment protocol
• Concurrent local palliative therapy allowed