Vaccine Therapy Plus Interleukin-2 in Treating Patients With Stage III, Stage IV, or Recurrent Follicular Lymphoma

Inclusion Criteria

• •DISEASE CHARACTERISTICS:
• •Histologically proven follicular center cell lymphoma with surface immunoglobulin (Ig) M, G, or A phenotype
• •* Grade I (follicular small cleaved cell)
• •* Grade II (follicular mixed small and large cell)
• •* Grade III (follicular large cell)
• •Stage III, IV, or recurrent disease
• •Previously untreated with chemotherapy or monoclonal antibody therapy OR
• •Recurrent, residual disease or progressive disease after prior prednisone, doxorubicin, cyclophosphamide, and etoposide (PACE) chemotherapy
• •Peripheral lymph node of at least 2 cm and accessible for biopsy/harvest
• •No primary or secondary CNS lymphoma
• •Must not have any of the following:
• •* Rapidly progressing lymphadenopathy
• •* Bone marrow failure secondary to lymphoma
• •* B symptoms
• •* Neurovascular or organ compromise secondary to lymphoma
• •PATIENT CHARACTERISTICS:
• •Age:
• •18 and over
• •Performance status:
• •Karnofsky 70-100%
• •Life expectancy:
• •More than 1 year
• •Hematopoietic:
• •Not specified
• •Hepatic:
• •ALT/AST no greater than 3.5 times upper limit of normal
• •Bilirubin no greater than 1.5 mg/dL unless secondary to Gilbert's disease
• •Hepatitis B surface antigen negative
• •Hepatitis C antibody negative
• •Renal:
• •Creatinine no greater than 1.5 mg/dL
• •Other:
• •HIV negative
• •No active infection
• •No other prior or concurrent malignancy except curatively treated squamous cell or basal cell skin cancer or effectively treated carcinoma in situ of the cervix
• •No medical or psychiatric condition that would preclude study
• •Not pregnant or nursing
• •Negative pregnancy test
• •Fertile patients must use effective contraception
• •PRIOR CONCURRENT THERAPY:
• •Biologic therapy:
• •See Disease Characteristics
• •No other concurrent biologic therapy for lymphoma
• •Chemotherapy:
• •See Disease Characteristics
• •At least 3 months since prior PACE chemotherapy
• •No concurrent chemotherapy
• •Endocrine therapy:
• •At least 2 weeks since prior steroid treatment
• •Less than 2 months of prior prednisone
• •No concurrent endocrine therapy for lymphoma
• •Radiotherapy:
• •Prior radiotherapy to no more than 1 site allowed
• •At least 2 weeks since prior radiotherapy
• •No concurrent radiotherapy
• •Surgery:
• •See Disease Characteristics
• •Lymph node biopsy performed within past month