Monoclonal Antibody Therapy and Vaccine Therapy in Treating Patients With Resected Stage III or Stage IV Melanoma

RATIONALE: Monoclonal antibodies can locate tumor cells and either kill them or deliver tumor-killing substances to them without harming normal cells. Vaccines may make the body build an immune response to kill tumor cells. Combining the vaccines with Montanide ISA-51 may cause a stronger immune response and kill more tumor cells. Giving monoclonal antibody therapy together with vaccine therapy may be an effective treatment for stage III or stage IV melanoma. PURPOSE: This phase II trial is studying how well giving monoclonal antibody therapy together with vaccine therapy works in treating patients with resected stage III or stage IV melanoma.

OBJECTIVES: Primary * Achieve at least a 40% autoimmune breakthrough event rate, as defined by the induction of grade 1, grade 2, or acceptable grade 3 drug-related autoimmune adverse events, in patients with resected stage III or IV melanoma treated with anti-cytotoxic T-lymphocyte-associated antigen-4 monoclonal antibody (MDX-010) and peptide vaccine comprising tyrosinase, gp100 antigen, and MART-1 antigen emulsified in Montanide ISA-51. Secondary * Determine the incidence of drug-related autoimmune adverse events of any grade in patients treated with this regimen. * Determine the time to disease relapse in patients treated with this regimen. * Determine the immunologic response in patients treated with this regimen. OUTLINE: This is an open-label study. Patients receive anti-cytotoxic T-lymphocyte-associated antigen-4 monoclonal antibody (MDX-010) IV over 90 minutes on day 1 of weeks 1, 9, 17, 25, 33, 41, and 53 and peptide vaccine comprising tyrosinase, gp100 antigen, and MART-1 antigen emulsified in Montanide ISA-51 subcutaneously on day 1 of weeks 1, 3, 5, 7, 9, 11, 17, 21, 25, 33, 41, and 53. Patients are followed every 3 months for 2 years, every 6 months for 2 years, and then annually thereafter. PROJECTED ACCRUAL: A total of 25 patients will be accrued for this study.