Vaccine Therapy in Treating Patients With Stage II or Stage III Colon Cancer That Has Been Removed During Surgery

You may be eligible if

• DISEASE CHARACTERISTICS:
• Histologically confirmed stage II or III primary adenocarcinoma of the colon
• * Completely resected within the past 28-35 days, at which time tumor tissue is harvested for vaccine production
• * No residual or metastatic disease
• No more than 1 malignant invasive primary colon cancer
• No tumor originating in the rectum (i.e., inferior tumor margin must not be at or below the peritoneal reflection)
• No perforated tumors
• PATIENT CHARACTERISTICS:
• Age:
• 21 to 85
• Performance status:
• WHO 0-1
• Life expectancy:
• Not specified
• Hematopoietic:
• WBC greater than 4,000/mm\^3
• Platelet count greater than 100,000/mm\^3
• Hemoglobin greater than 10.0 g/dL
• Hepatic:
• Bilirubin normal
• SGOT normal
• Alkaline phosphatase normal
• No severe hepatic disease that would preclude study
• Renal:
• Creatinine less than 1.5 times upper limit of normal
• No severe renal disease that would preclude study
• Cardiovascular:
• No prosthetic cardiac valves
• No recent vascular prosthesis
• No postsurgical cardiovascular complication
• No severe cardiovascular disease that would preclude study
• Pulmonary:
• No postsurgical pulmonary complication
• Other:
• Not pregnant or nursing
• Negative pregnancy test
• Fertile patients must use effective contraception
• No insulin-dependent diabetes mellitus
• No severe systemic disease that would preclude study
• No congenital or acquired immune deficiency disease
• No history of chronic ulcerative colitis, Crohn's disease, Gardner's syndrome, or Turcot's syndrome
• No ileus
• No other prior malignancy except curatively treated squamous cell or basal cell skin cancer or carcinoma in situ of the cervix
• No ongoing infection requiring systemic antibiotics
• No severe postoperative complication that would preclude study
• Carcinoembryonic antigen normal
• PRIOR CONCURRENT THERAPY:
• Biologic therapy:
• No other concurrent investigational immunotherapy
• Chemotherapy:
• No prior systemic chemotherapy
• No other concurrent investigational chemotherapy
• Endocrine therapy:
• No concurrent steroids
• Radiotherapy:
• No prior radiotherapy
• No concurrent investigational radiotherapy
• Surgery:
• See Disease Characteristics
• No concurrent investigational surgery
• Other:
• At least 3 weeks since prior systemic antibiotic therapy of more than 5 days duration (excluding topical antibiotics or perioperative prophylactic antibiotics)
• No concurrent cytotoxic immunosuppressive agents