Vaccine Therapy and Interleukin-12 With Either Alum or Sargramostim After Surgery in Treating Patients With Melanoma

You may be eligible if

• DISEASE CHARACTERISTICS:
• Diagnosis of stage IIB, IIC, III, or IV cutaneous melanoma OR stage III or IV ocular or mucosal melanoma
• * Resected or rendered disease-free
• HLA-A2.1-positive by standard cytotoxicity assay
• Tumor tissue must be available for analysis of gp100 staining and tyrosinase and MART-1 expression by immunohistochemistry
• * Must be positive for at least 1 antigen
• Failed, ineligible for, or refused prior interferon alfa
• PATIENT CHARACTERISTICS:
• Age:
• 18 and over
• Performance status:
• ECOG 0-1
• Life expectancy:
• Not specified
• Hematopoietic:
• WBC at least 3,000/mm\^3
• Granulocyte count at least 1,500/mm\^3
• Platelet count at least 100,000/mm\^3
• Hemoglobin at least 9.0 g/dL
• No bleeding disorder
• Hepatic:
• Bilirubin no greater than 2.0 mg/dL
• SGOT/SGPT no greater than 2.5 times normal
• No coagulation disorder
• Hepatitis surface antigen B negative
• Hepatitis C negative
• Renal:
• Creatinine no greater than 2.0 mg/dL
• Cardiovascular:
• No major cardiovascular illness
• Pulmonary:
• No major respiratory illness
• Immunologic:
• No prior uveitis
• No prior autoimmune inflammatory eye disease
• No immune hemolytic anemia
• No other active autoimmune disease
• Other:
• HIV negative
• No major gastrointestinal illness
• No other malignancy within the past 5 years except squamous cell skin cancer or carcinoma in situ of the cervix curatively treated at least 30 days ago
• No major systemic infection (e.g., pneumonia or sepsis)
• No other major medical illness
• No prior allergic reaction to Montanide ISA-51 or alum adjuvant
• No requirement for steroid therapy
• Not pregnant or nursing
• Negative pregnancy test
• Fertile patients must use effective contraception
• PRIOR CONCURRENT THERAPY:
• Biologic therapy:
• See Disease Characteristics
• No prior tyrosinase:368-376 (370D), gp100:209-217 (210M), or MART-1:26-35 (27L) peptides
• Chemotherapy:
• At least 1 month since prior adjuvant chemotherapy for this disease
• No concurrent adjuvant chemotherapy
• Endocrine therapy:
• No concurrent steroids
• Radiotherapy:
• At least 1 month since prior radiotherapy for this disease
• No concurrent radiotherapy
• Surgery:
• See Disease Characteristics
• Other:
• At least 1 month since other prior therapy, including adjuvant therapy, for this disease
• No other concurrent therapy, including adjuvant therapy