PRIMARY OBJECTIVES:~I. Determine the objective response rate (complete response and partial response) in patients with unresectable or metastatic squamous cell carcinoma of the skin or RAI stage 0-I chronic lymphocytic leukemia receiving dasatinib.~SECONDARY OBJECTIVES:~I. Determine the progression-free survival of patients receiving this drug. II. Evaluate tumor for presence of total EphA2 and both total and active Src and FAK by immunohistochemistry (IHC) pre-treatment with dasatinib.~III. Evaluate tumor for presence of cyclooxygenase-2 by IHC pre-treatment with dasatinib.~OUTLINE: Patients are assigned to 1 of 2 treatment arms.~ARM I: Patients receive 100 mg dasatinib orally (PO) twice daily (BID) on days 1-28.~ARM II (PATIENTS ENROLLED AFTER 11/18/08): Patients receive 70 mg dasatinib PO BID on days 1-28.~In both arms, courses repeat every 28 days in the absence of disease progression or unacceptable toxicity.~Pre-therapy tumor biopsy specimens are collected to detect total and phosphorylated Src and FAK, total EphA2, and cyclooxygenase-2 by immunohistochemistry.~After completion of study treatment, patients are followed up monthly for up to 12 weeks.
This phase II trial is studying how well dasatinib works in treating patients with unresectable or metastatic squamous cell skin cancer or RAI Stage 0-I chronic lymphocytic leukemia. Dasatinib may stop the growth of tumor cells by blocking some of the enzymes needed for cell growth.