Denileukin Diftitox in Treating Patients With Metastatic Melanoma or Metastatic Kidney Cancer

You may be eligible if

• DISEASE CHARACTERISTICS:
• Diagnosis of 1 of the following:
• * Melanoma
• * Kidney cancer
• Metastatic disease
• Measurable disease
• Documented disease progression while receiving standard therapy
• No resectable local or regional disease
• PATIENT CHARACTERISTICS:
• Age
• 16 and over
• Performance status
• ECOG 0-2
• Life expectancy
• More than 3 months
• Hematopoietic
• WBC ≥ 3,000/mm\^3
• Platelet count ≥ 90,000/mm\^3
• Lymphocyte count ≥ 500/mm\^3
• No concurrent coagulation disorders
• Hepatic
• Bilirubin ≤ 2.0 mg/dL (\< 3.0 mg/dL for patients with Gilbert's syndrome)
• AST and ALT \< 3 times normal
• Albumin ≥ 2.5 g/dL
• Hepatitis B surface antigen negative
• Hepatitis C antibody negative
• Renal
• Creatinine ≤ 2.0 mg/dL
• Cardiovascular
• Normal thallium stress test\*
• No prior myocardial infarction
• No history of severe coronary artery disease
• No major medical illness of the cardiovascular system NOTE: \*For patients \> 50 years of age OR who have a history of cardiovascular disease
• Pulmonary
• No major medical illness of the respiratory system
• Immunologic
• HIV negative
• No active systemic infection
• No presence of opportunistic infections
• No primary or secondary immunodeficiency
• No autoimmune disease
• No other known immunodeficiency
• Other
• No sensitivity to denileukin diftitox or any of its components (e.g., diphtheria toxin, interleukin-2, or excipients)
• Willing to undergo leukapheresis
• Not pregnant or nursing
• Negative pregnancy test
• Fertile patients must use effective contraception
• PRIOR CONCURRENT THERAPY:
• Biologic therapy
• Prior treatment with interleukin-2 allowed provided the patient's disease status required this therapy
• Chemotherapy
• Recovered from prior chemotherapy
• Endocrine therapy
• No concurrent systemic steroids
• Radiotherapy
• Recovered from prior radiotherapy
• Surgery
• Not specified
• Other
• More than 3 weeks since prior systemic anticancer therapy
• No other concurrent systemic anticancer therapy