Vaccine Therapy in Treating Patients With Stage III or Stage IV Melanoma

You may be eligible if

• DISEASE CHARACTERISTICS:
• Histologically confirmed melanoma
• * Stage III (lymph node or in-transit metastases) or IV (systemic metastases) disease
• Patients with relapsed disease OR who failed prior immunotherapy or chemotherapy are eligible (but trial not restricted to relapsed or refractory disease)
• Tumor tissue available and properly stored for lysate preparation
• PATIENT CHARACTERISTICS:
• Age
• 18 and over
• Performance status
• Karnofsky 60-100%
• Life expectancy
• At least 12 weeks
• Hematopoietic
• Absolute neutrophil count ≥ 1,000/mm\^3
• Platelet count ≥ 75,000/mm\^3
• Hepatic
• AST ≤ 2 times upper limit of normal (ULN) (3 times ULN for liver metastases)
• Bilirubin ≤ 2 times ULN
• Hepatitis B surface antigen negative
• Hepatitis C negative
• Renal
• Creatinine ≤ 2.0 times ULN
• Immunologic
• No active infection
• No history of autoimmune disease, including any of the following:
• * Inflammatory bowel disease
• * Systemic lupus erythematosus
• * Scleroderma
• * Rheumatoid arthritis
• * Multiple sclerosis
• No allergy to aminoglycosides or streptomycin
• HIV negative
• Other
• Not pregnant or nursing
• Negative pregnancy test
• Fertile patients must use effective contraception
• No significant comorbid illness
• No other malignancy within the past 5 years except nonmelanoma skin cancer or carcinoma in situ of the cervix
• PRIOR CONCURRENT THERAPY:
• Biologic therapy
• See Disease Characteristics
• At least 10 days since prior immunotherapy
• Chemotherapy
• See Disease Characteristics
• Endocrine therapy
• At least 6 weeks since prior steroid therapy
• No concurrent corticosteroids
• Radiotherapy
• At least 10 days since prior radiotherapy
• No concurrent radiotherapy
• Surgery
• At least 10 days since prior surgery
• Prior diagnostic or palliative surgery allowed provided the patient has fully recovered
• Other
• No concurrent immunosuppressive or potentially immunosuppressive therapy