Drug combo targets rare cancers in early trial

Copied word for word from the study's registry entry, so the wording is the study team's rather than ours.

Inclusion Criteria: * Biopsy proven nasopharyngeal carcinoma (World Health Organization \[WHO\] type 3) or extranodal NK-T-cell non-Hodgkin's lymphoma, nasal type (recurrence or metastases does not require tissue documentation) * Patients must have metastatic disease or locally recurrent disease that is not amendable to surgical resection * Patients must have locally recurrent disease that is not amendable to further treatment with radiotherapy with curative intent * Patients must have metastatic disease or locally recurrent disease that has been treated with at least one regimen of chemotherapeutic agents after relapse; patient must be at least 4 weeks since prior chemotherapy or radiation therapy * Eastern Cooperative Oncology Group (ECOG) performance status =\< 2 (Karnofsky \>= 60%) * Life expectancy greater than 6 months * Leukocytes \>= 3,000/ul * Absolute neutrophil count \>= 1,500/ul * Platelets \>= 100,000/ul * Total bilirubin =\< 1.5 X normal institutional limits * Aspartate aminotransferase (AST) (serum glutamic oxaloacetic transaminase \[SGOT\])/alanine aminotransferase (ALT) (serum glutamate pyruvate transaminase \[SGPT\]) =\< 2.5 X institutional upper limit of normal * Prothrombin time =\< 1.5 X normal institutional limits * Serum albumin \>= 2.7 grams/deciliter * Creatinine =\< 1.5 X normal institutional limits or a calculated creatinine clearance of \> 50 mls/min * Sexually active women of child-bearing potential should have a negative serum or urine pregnancy test within 21 days of enrolling on trial; women of child-bearing potential and men must agree to use adequate contraception (hormonal or barrier method of birth control; abstinence) prior to study entry and for the duration of study participation; should a woman become pregnant or suspect she is pregnant while participating in this study, she should inform her treating physician immediately * Patients must be informed of the investigational nature of the treatment, results that might be expected, and potential toxicities; they must be able to give informed written consent according to federal and institutional guidelines Exclusion Criteria: * Patients who have had chemotherapy or radiotherapy within 4 weeks (6 weeks for nitrosoureas or mitomycin C) prior to entering the study or those who have not recovered from adverse events due to agents administered more than 4 weeks earlier * Patients may not be receiving any other investigational agents * Patients with known central nervous system (CNS) involvement (brain metastases or carcinomatous meningitis should be excluded from this clinical trial; patients with skull base involvement are eligible for this study * History of allergic reactions attributed to compounds of similar chemical or biologic composition to 5AC or SAHA * Patients should not have taken sodium valproate for at least 2 weeks prior to enrollment * Uncontrolled intercurrent illness including, but not limited to, ongoing or active infection, symptomatic congestive heart failure, unstable angina pectoris, cardiac arrhythmia, or psychiatric illness/social situations that would limit compliance with study requirements * Pregnant women are excluded from this study; breastfeeding should be discontinued if the mother is treated with 5AC and SAHA * Human immunodeficiency virus (HIV)-positive patients receiving combination anti-retroviral therapy are excluded from the study * Patients with chronic active hepatitis B are excluded from the study