Vaccine Therapy in Treating Patients With Chronic Phase Chronic Myelogenous Leukemia

OBJECTIVES: * Determine the antileukemic effects of tumor-specific Breakpoint Cluster Region-Abelson Murine Leukemia(BCR-ABL) junction specific peptide vaccine, as measured by a decrease in circulating BCR-ABL transcripts by reverse-transcriptase polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR), that persist for at least 3 months, in patients with chronic phase chronic myelogenous leukemia. * Determine the percentage of patients treated with this vaccine who become RT-PCR-negative for BCR-ABL transcripts. * Compare response in patients with B3A2 junctions vs B2A2 junctions when treated with this vaccine. * Determine the immunologic response over 1 year in patients treated with this vaccine. * Correlate response with specific HLA types in these patients. * Determine the safety of this vaccine in these patients. OUTLINE: This is a pilot, multicenter study. Patients receive BCR-ABL junction-specific peptide vaccine subcutaneously in weeks 2, 4, 6, 8, and 11 and then once monthly for 10 months. BCR-ABL transcript levels are assessed by quantitative reverse-transcriptase polymerase chain reaction at baseline, weeks 2, 4, and 6, every 3 months during treatment, and then 2 weeks after completion of study treatment. PROJECTED ACCRUAL: A total of 20 patients will be accrued for this study.