Dasatinib in Treating Patients With Previously Treated Malignant Mesothelioma

DISEASE CHARACTERISTICS: * Histologically confirmed malignant mesothelioma of any of the following subtypes: * Epithelial * Sarcomatoid * Mixed * Any site of origin of malignant mesothelioma allowed including, but not limited to, any of the following: * Pleura * Peritoneum * Pericardium * Tunica vaginalis * Pathology blocks or slides from a core surgical biopsy must be available * Not amenable to curative surgery * Measurable disease, defined as lesions that can be accurately measured in at least one dimension (longest diameter to be recorded) as ≥ 20 mm with conventional techniques (CT scan , MRI, or x-ray) or as ≥ 10 mm with spiral CT scan * Patients with pleural rind only disease must have at least one level with one rind measurement ≥ 1.5 cm * Lesions that are considered nonmeasurable include the following: * Bone lesions * Leptomeningeal disease * Ascites * Pleural/pericardial effusion * Lymphangitis cutis/pulmonis * Abdominal masses that are not confirmed and followed by imaging techniques * Cystic lesions * Prior treatment with one and only one systemic chemotherapy regimen, which must have included pemetrexed disodium required * Treatment may have been with pemetrexed disodium alone or in combination with any other agent * No symptomatic pleural effusions, unless the patient undergoes a therapeutic thoracentesis * Patients with pleural effusions who have had a pleurodesis are eligible * No known brain metastases…