Biological Therapy in Treating Children With Refractory or Recurrent Neuroblastoma or Other Tumors

You may be eligible if

• DISEASE CHARACTERISTICS:
• Histologically confirmed neuroblastoma or melanoma at original diagnosis
• * Refractory to chemotherapy or recurrence after prior multiagent chemotherapy
• * Measurable or evaluable (detectable by bone scan) metastatic disease OR
• * No evidence of disease if complete response to prior surgical resection, radiotherapy, and/or chemotherapy OR
• Histologically confirmed tumor expressing GD2 antigen at original diagnosis or relapse
• * Refractory to standard treatment
• * Measurable or evaluable disease by clinical assessments or laboratory markers OR
• * No evidence of disease after prior surgical resection of metastatic, recurrent disease
• * Histologically confirmed recurrent osteogenic sarcoma after prior chemotherapy allowed
• * Soft tissue sarcoma allowed
• No primary CNS tumors
• Prior CNS metastases allowed, provided:
• * Disease previously treated
• * Disease clinically stable for 4 weeks before study
• * At least 4 weeks since prior steroids for CNS metastases
• No clinically detectable pleural effusions or ascites
• PATIENT CHARACTERISTICS:
• Age:
• 21 and under
• Performance status:
• Karnofsky 60-100% for children over age 10
• Lansky 60-100% for children age 10 and under
• Life expectancy:
• At least 12 weeks
• Hematopoietic:
• Absolute neutrophil count greater than 1,000/mm\^3
• Platelet count at least 75,000/mm\^3 (transfusion allowed)
• Hemoglobin at least 9.0 g/dL (transfusion allowed)
• Hepatic:
• Bilirubin less than 1.5 mg/dL
• ALT or AST no greater than 2.5 times normal
• Hepatitis B surface antigen negative
• Renal:
• Creatinine no greater than 1.5 mg/dL OR
• Creatinine clearance or radioisotope glomerular filtration rate at least 60 mL/min
• Cardiovascular:
• Shortening fraction at least 27% by echocardiogram OR
• Ejection fraction more than 50% by MUGA scan
• No congestive heart failure
• No uncontrolled cardiac rhythm disturbance
• Pulmonary:
• FEV\_1 and FVC more than 60% of predicted OR
• No dyspnea at rest
• No exercise intolerance
• Oxygen saturation more than 94% by pulse oximetry on room air
• Neurologic:
• No seizure disorders requiring antiseizure medications
• No significant neurologic deficit or grade 2 or greater objective peripheral neuropathy
• Other:
• Not pregnant or nursing
• Negative pregnancy test
• Fertile patients must use effective contraception
• HIV negative
• No significant concurrent illnesses unrelated to cancer or its treatment
• No significant psychiatric disabilities
• No uncontrolled active infections
• No uncontrolled active peptic ulcer
• PRIOR CONCURRENT THERAPY:
• Biologic therapy:
• At least 1 week since prior growth factors
• At least 1 week since prior immunomodulatory therapy
• Prior monoclonal antibodies allowed if no detectable antibody to hu14.18
• Prior autologous bone marrow transplantation (BMT) or stem cell transplantation (SCT) allowed
• Prior autologous BMT or SCT with monoclonal antibody-purged specimens allowed
• No concurrent growth factors
• No concurrent interferon
• Chemotherapy:
• See Disease Characteristics
• At least 3 weeks since prior chemotherapy (6 weeks for nitrosoureas, mitomycin, or melphalan)
• No concurrent palliative chemotherapy
• Endocrine therapy:
• See Disease Characteristics
• At least 2 weeks since prior glucocorticoids, except for life-threatening symptoms
• No concurrent corticosteroids
• No concurrent glucocorticoids, except for life-threatening symptoms
• Radiotherapy:
• See Disease Characteristics
• At least 3 weeks since prior radiotherapy
• No concurrent palliative radiotherapy
• Surgery:
• See Disease Characteristics
• At least 2 weeks since prior major surgery (e.g., laparotomy or thoracotomy)
• No prior organ allografts
• No concurrent palliative surgery
• Other:
• Recovered from prior therapy
• At least 1 week since prior tretinoin
• At least 3 weeks since prior immunosuppressive therapy
• No other concurrent immunosuppressive drugs