Vaccine Therapy Plus Interleukin-2 in Treating Women With Stage IV, Recurrent, or Progressive Breast or Ovarian Cancer

DISEASE CHARACTERISTICS:

• Histologically proven adenocarcinoma of the breast or ovary
• Stage IV, recurrent, or progressive disease with no chemotherapy or radiotherapy options available that would increase survival

• Tumor tissue available for determination of p53 protein expression and genetic mutation

  • p53-positive tumor by immunohistochemical analysis
• HLA-A2.1 positive
• No prior CNS metastases

• Hormone receptor status:

  • Not specified

PATIENT CHARACTERISTICS:

Age:

• 18 and over

Sex:

• Female

Menopausal status:

• Not specified

Performance status:

• ECOG 0 or 1

Life expectancy:

• More than 3 months

Hematopoietic:

• Platelet count at least 100,000/mm^3

Hepatic:

• Bilirubin no greater than 2.0 mg/dL
• SGOT or SGPT no greater than 4 times normal
• Hepatitis B surface antigen negative
• Hepatitis C antibody negative

Renal:

• Creatinine no greater than 2.0 mg/dL

Cardiovascular:

• No New York Heart Association class III or IV heart disease
• No myocardial infarction within past 6 months
• No prior congestive heart failure
• No prior ventricular arrhythmias or other arrhythmias requiring therapy

Immunologic:

• Must have positive intradermal delayed hypersensitivity test for 1 of the following:

  • Mumps
  • Trichophyton
  • Tetanus
  • Candida
  • PPD
• No underlying immune deficiency

• No prior autoimmune disease including, but not limited to, the following:

  • Autoimmune neutropenia, thrombocytopenia, or hemolytic anemia
  • Systemic lupus erythematosus, Sjögren's syndrome, or scleroderma
  • Myasthenia gravis
  • Goodpasture's syndrome
  • Addison's disease
  • Hashimoto's thyroiditis
  • Active Graves' disease
• No active infection requiring antibiotics
• HIV negative

Other:

• Not pregnant or nursing
• Negative pregnancy test
• Fertile patients must use effective contraception
• No other active malignancy within the past 2 years except curatively treated carcinoma in situ of the cervix or basal cell skin cancer

PRIOR CONCURRENT THERAPY:

Biologic therapy:

• At least 4 weeks since prior immunotherapy and recovered
• At least 1 year since prior bone marrow transplantation

Chemotherapy:

• At least 4 weeks since prior chemotherapy and recovered

Endocrine therapy:

• Prior anticancer hormonal therapy allowed
• At least 4 weeks since prior systemic steroids and recovered

Radiotherapy:

• At least 4 weeks since prior radiotherapy and recovered

Surgery:

• Not specified

Other:

• Chronic suppressive antibiotics allowed