PRIMARY OBJECTIVES:~I. Determine the objective response rate in patients with unresectable locally advanced or metastatic adenocarcinoma of the bile duct or gallbladder treated with bortezomib.~SECONDARY OBJECTIVES:~I. Determine the time to disease progression in patients treated with this drug.~II. Determine the overall survival of patients treated with this drug. III. Correlate the degree of proteasome inhibition in peripheral blood with degree of proteasome inhibition in tumor specimens of patients treated with this drug.~IV. Correlate phenotypic expression of NF-kB, p53, and other molecular markers in biliary washings and tumor biopsies with clinical outcomes in patients treated with this drug.~V. Correlate treatment with this drug with changes in phenotypic expression of molecular markers in these patients.~OUTLINE: This is an open-label, multicenter study.~Patients receive bortezomib IV over 3-5 seconds on days 1, 4, 8, and 11. Courses repeat every 21 days in the absence of disease progression or unacceptable toxicity.~Patients are followed every 3 months for 1 year.
This phase II trial is studying how well bortezomib works as first-line systemic therapy in treating patients with unresectable locally advanced or metastatic adenocarcinoma (cancer) of the bile duct or gallbladder. Bortezomib may stop the growth of tumor cells by blocking the enzymes necessary for their growth.