Vaccine Therapy Followed by Biological Therapy in Treating Patients With Stage III or Stage IV Melanoma

Overview

RATIONALE: Vaccines made from melanoma cells may make the body build an immune response to kill tumor cells. Biological therapies such as interferon gamma and interleukin-2 use different ways to stimulate the immune system and stop cancer cells from growing. Combining vaccine therapy with biological therapy may kill more tumor cells. PURPOSE: This phase II trial is studying giving vaccine therapy together with interferon gamma and interleukin-2 in treating patients with stage III or stage IV melanoma.

OBJECTIVES: * Determine the clinical response rate and immune response in HLA-A2 positive patients with stage III or IV melanoma after receiving autologous dendritic cells pulsed with melanoma antigen peptides (MART-1:26-35, gp100:209-217, and tyrosinase:368-376) and treated ex vivo with CD40-ligand and interferon gamma, followed by interleukin-2 in vivo. * Determine the toxicities of this regimen in these patients. OUTLINE: This is a multicenter study. Patients undergo leukapheresis to harvest autologous dendritic cells (ADCs). Melanoma peptides (MART-1:26-35, gp100:209-217, and tyrosinase:368-376) are pulsed separately onto ADCs, which are also treated ex vivo with CD40-ligand, interferon gamma, interleukin-4, sargramostim (GM-CSF), and Candida albicans skin test reagent. Patients receive each melanoma peptide pulsed ADC vaccine separately via 3 successive 10 minute infusions on day 1. Patients then receive interleukin-2 subcutaneously every 12 hours on days 2-6. Treatment repeats every 2 weeks for 3 courses in the absence of disease progression or unacceptable toxicity. Patients are followed at 4 weeks, then every 3 months for 2 years, then every 6 months for 3 years, and then annually thereafter. PROJECTED ACCRUAL: A total of 21-41 patients will be accrued for this study within 18-24 months.

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Eligibility

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