• Immunological response [ Designated as safety issue: No ]
• Toxicity [ Designated as safety issue: Yes ]

• Immunological response
• Toxicity

RATIONALE: Vaccines made from proteins may make the body build an immune response to kill tumor cells.

PURPOSE: This randomized phase I/II trial is comparing two different vaccine therapies to see how well they work in treating patients with stage II or stage III melanoma that has been surgically removed.

OBJECTIVES:

• Compare the immunogenicity of vaccination with melanoma antigen-pulsed dendritic cells vs melanoma antigens with QS21 adjuvant in patients with surgically resected stage IIB, IIC, or III melanoma.
• Compare the toxicity of these vaccinations in these patients.

OUTLINE: This is a randomized, open-label study. Patients are randomized to 1 of 2 treatment arms.

• Arm I: Patients undergo leukapheresis to obtain peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMC). PBMC are cultured with sargramostim (GM-CSF) and interleukin-4 to generate dendritic cells (DC). DC are then pulsed with endotoxin-free keyhole limpet hemocyanin (KLH), flu matrix, and HLA A*0201-restricted melanoma antigens (Melan-A, MART-1, gp100 antigen, tyrosinase, MAGE-3, and NY-ESO-B) to elicit antigen-specific CD8+ T cells. One day after the DC are exposed to the antigens, patients receive a priming injection of melanoma antigen-pulsed mature DC vaccine subcutaneously (SC) on day 1 of week 1.
• Arm II: Patients receive a priming injection of vaccine comprising KLH, flu matrix, and HLA A*0201-restricted melanoma antigens with QS21 adjuvant SC on day 1 of week 1.

In both arms, patients then receive 3 booster injections of vaccine (that dose not contain KLH) SC monthly (weeks 4, 8, and 12) for a total of 4 injections.

Patients are followed every 12 weeks.

PROJECTED ACCRUAL: A total of 50 patients (25 per treatment arm) will be accrued for this study within 1.5-3 years.

• Biological: dendritic cell vaccine therapy
• Biological: synthetic tumor-associated peptide vaccine therapy

• Experimental: Patients undergo leukapheresis to obtain peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMC). PBMC are cultured with sargramostim (GM-CSF) and interleukin-4 to generate dendritic cells (DC). DC are then pulsed with endotoxin-free keyhole limpet hemocyanin (KLH), flu matrix, and HLA A*0201-restricted melanoma antigens (Melan-A, MART-1, gp100 antigen, tyrosinase, MAGE-3, and NY-ESO-B) to elicit antigen-specific CD8+ T cells. One day after the DC are exposed to the antigens, patients receive a priming injection of melanoma antigen-pulsed mature DC vaccine subcutaneously (SC) on day 1 of week 1.
• Experimental: Patients receive a priming injection of vaccine comprising KLH, flu matrix, and HLA A*0201-restricted melanoma antigens with QS21 adjuvant SC on day 1 of week 1.

DISEASE CHARACTERISTICS:

• Diagnosis of stage IIB, IIC, or III melanoma that has been surgically resected
• HLA-A0201 positive

PATIENT CHARACTERISTICS:

Age

• 18 and over

Performance status

• Karnofsky 80-100%

Life expectancy

• Not specified

Hematopoietic

• WBC at least 3,500/mm^3
• Platelet count at least 125,000/mm^3
• Hemoglobin at least 9 g/dL

Hepatic

• Lactic dehydrogenase no greater than 2 times normal
• Bilirubin no greater than 2 mg/dL
• Albumin at least 3.5 mg/dL
• No chronic active hepatitis

Renal

• Creatinine no greater than 2 mg/dL

Other

• HIV negative
• No pre-existing retinal or choroidal eye disease
• No allergy to shellfish
• No allergy to gentamicin, tobramycin, streptomycin, or amikacin
• No known autoimmune disease (e.g., systemic lupus erythematosus or rheumatoid arthritis) except vitiligo
• No chronic infection
• Not pregnant or nursing
• Negative pregnancy test
• Fertile patients must use effective contraception

PRIOR CONCURRENT THERAPY:

Biologic therapy

• No prior interferon alfa
• No prior biologic therapy
• No prior peptides used in this study, melanoma protein vaccine, melanoma whole cell vaccines, or QS21
• No other concurrent biologic therapy

Chemotherapy

• No prior chemotherapy

Endocrine therapy

• Not specified

Radiotherapy

• No concurrent radiotherapy

Surgery

• See Disease Characteristics
• Recovered from prior surgery
• No concurrent surgery

Other

• No concurrent systemic therapy