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

Inclusion Criteria

• •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