Vaccine Therapy in Treating Patients With Stage IIIB, Stage IV, or Recurrent Non-Small Cell Lung Cancer

Inclusion Criteria

• •DISEASE CHARACTERISTICS:
• •Histologically confirmed non-small cell lung cancer meeting 1 of the following stage criteria:
• •* Stage IIIB disease
• •* Stage IV disease
• •* Recurrent disease
• •HLA-A2-positive disease
• •* HLA-A2 negative patients are eligible to enroll in group II (observation) only
• •Measurable disease
• •Estimated tumor volume ≤ 125 cc
• •No CNS signs or symptoms of brain metastases
• •* Brain metastases that are clinically stable for ≥ 2 months AND do not require anticonvulsants or systemic steroids are allowed
• •PATIENT CHARACTERISTICS:
• •Age
• •18 and over
• •Performance status
• •ECOG 0-1
• •Life expectancy
• •At least 12 weeks
• •Hematopoietic
• •Hemoglobin ≥ 10 g/dL
• •Platelet count \> 100,000/mm\^3
• •WBC \> 3,000/mm\^3
• •Absolute neutrophil count \> 1,500/mm\^3
• •Absolute lymphocyte count \> 500/mm\^3
• •Hepatic
• •AST and ALT ≤ 2.5 times upper limit of normal (ULN) (5 times ULN for patients with liver involvement by tumor)
• •Bilirubin ≤ 2.0 mg/dL (3.0 mg/dL for patients with liver involvement by tumor)
• •Albumin ≥ 2.5 g/dL
• •Alkaline phosphatase ≤ 2.5 times ULN
• •No history of hepatitis B or C positivity
• •Renal
• •Creatinine ≤ 2 times ULN
• •Immunologic
• •No history of any of the following active conditions:
• •* Systemic lupus erythematosus
• •* Scleroderma
• •* Connective tissue disease
• •* Sjögren's syndrome
• •* Multiple sclerosis
• •* Rheumatoid arthritis
• •* Inflammatory bowel disease
• •No history of HIV positivity
• •No history of serious adverse reaction, including anaphylaxis, or hypersensitivity to study vaccine or to any of its components
• •Other
• •Not pregnant or nursing
• •Negative pregnancy test
• •Fertile patients must use effective contraception during and for 3 weeks after completion of study treatment
• •No other malignancy within the past 5 years except curatively excised nonmelanoma skin cancer or surgically cured carcinoma in situ of the cervix
• •No other acute medical condition that would preclude study treatment
• •No mental or psychiatric condition that would preclude study compliance
• •PRIOR CONCURRENT THERAPY:
• •Biologic therapy
• •More than 1 month since prior interferon therapy
• •More than 1 month since prior interleukin therapy
• •No prior cancer vaccine therapy, including participation in a vaccine study
• •Chemotherapy
• •At least 4 weeks since prior chemotherapy
• •Endocrine therapy
• •See Disease Characteristics
• •More than 1 month since prior systemic corticosteroids except stable doses of inhaled corticosteroids
• •Radiotherapy
• •At least 4 weeks since prior radiotherapy
• •Surgery
• •Not specified
• •Other
• •No concurrent participation in another investigational study