Vaccine Therapy With or Without Sargramostim in Treating Patients With Advanced or Metastatic Cancer

Inclusion Criteria: * Histologically confirmed adenocarcinoma that failed standard curative options and for which no standard palliative options are required within the next 8weeks * Advanced or metastatic disease * Recurrent or unresectable disease * Microscopic metastatic disease confirmed by surgical exploration allowed * CEA expression by immunohistochemistry * Circulating CEA greater than 5 ng/mL * HLA phenotyping required * HLA phenotyping must be repeated for patients who have undergone allogeneic bone marrow transplantation * No clinically symptomatic brain metastases * Patients with brain metastases who have completed palliative radiotherapy and have discontinued steroids are eligible * Hormone receptor status: * Not specified * Male or female * Performance status - ECOG 0-1 * WBC at least 3,000/mm\^3 * Platelet count at least 100,000/mm\^3 * Bilirubin less than 1.5 times upper limit of normal (ULN) * AST and ALT less than 3 times ULN * PT and PTT less than 1.5 times ULN (unless therapeutically anticoagulated) * Creatinine less than 1.5 mg/dL * Creatinine clearance greater than 60 mL/min * Proteinuria or hematuria less than +2 on urinalysis\* * Urine protein less than 1,000 mg/24-hour collection, if proteinuria greater than +1 * No frequent vomiting or severe anorexia * No more than 10% weight loss within the past 3 months * No inflammatory bowel disease, Crohn's disease, ulcerative colitis, or active diverticulitis * No uncontrolled seizure disorders * No encephalitis * No multiple sclerosis * No allergy to eggs * No HIV-associated opportunistic infection * No autoimmune diseases, including the following: * Systemic lupus erythematosus * Sjögren's syndrome * Scleroderma * Myasthenia gravis * Goodpasture syndrome * Addison's disease * Hashimoto's thyroiditis * Graves' disease * Antinuclear antibody positive status allowed if no evidence of an autoimmune disease * No direct contact of vaccination site with the following persons for at least 72 hours after each vaccination: * Children under 1 year of age * Pregnant women * Individuals with eczema or other open skin condition * Immunocompromised individuals * No other concurrent serious medical illness that would preclude study entry * No other malignancy within the past 2 years except excised basal cell or squamous cell skin cancer or carcinoma in situ of the cervix * Not pregnant or nursing * Negative pregnancy test * Fertile patients must use effective contraception for at least 1 month before (female patients only), during, and for at least 3 months after study participation * See Disease Characteristics * No prior CEA-directed active immunotherapy * Prior CEA-directed antibody therapy allowed * At least 4 weeks since prior immunotherapy and recovered * No other concurrent antineoplastic biologic therapy or immunotherapy * At least 4 weeks since prior chemotherapy (6 weeks for nitrosoureas or mitomycin) and recovered * No concurrent antineoplastic chemotherapy * See Disease Characteristics * No concurrent antineoplastic hormonal therapy * No concurrent systemic steroids (inhaled steroids allowed) * Concurrent systemic mineralocorticoids (e.g., megestrol for appetite stimulation or fludrocortisone) allowed * Concurrent birth control pills allowed * See Disease Characteristics * At least 4 weeks since prior radiotherapy and recovered * No prior radiotherapy to more than 50% of all nodal groups * See Disease Characteristics * Recovered from prior surgery * No prior splenectomy * Concurrent non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs allowed * No other concurrent anti-cancer therapy