GM-CSF and Rituximab After Autologous Stem Cell Transplant in Treating Patients With Relapsed or Refractory Follicular Non-Hodgkin Lymphoma

You may be eligible if

• DISEASE CHARACTERISTICS:
• Histologic diagnosis of grade 1, 2, 3, or transformed follicular lymphoma
• Achieved a complete or partial response to last salvage therapy
• * Completed salvage therapy within the past 12 weeks
• * No disease progression since last salvage therapy
• One of the following disease statuses must have been present prior to receiving salvage therapy
• * Refractory to last anti-lymphoma therapy
• * Last remission duration less than 1½ years if salvage therapy is 3rd regimen
• * Last remission duration less than 3 years if salvage therapy is 2nd regimen
• Minimum of 2 x 10\^6 CD34+ cells/kg cryopreserved and available for hematopoietic stem cell support
• No leptomeningeal disease or brain parenchyma involvement
• PATIENT CHARACTERISTICS:
• Cardiac ejection fraction \> 50%
• * If over 60 years of age, no evidence of cardiac ischemia by treadmill stress test (stress echo or sesta-MIBI)
• Adjusted diffusing capacity ≥ 50% of the predicted value on pulmonary function testing
• Creatinine ≤ 1.5 mg/dL OR creatinine clearance \> 50 mL/min
• ANC \> 1,000/μL
• Platelet count \> 50,000/μL
• Total bilirubin ≤ 2.0 mg/dL (≤ 3.0 mg/dL if Gilbert's disease is suspected)
• Not pregnant or breast-feeding
• Fertile patients must use an acceptable form of birth control
• HIV I or II negative
• No acute or chronic hepatitis B
• No active hepatitis C
• No medical illness (unrelated to non-Hodgkin lymphoma), including malignancies that, in the opinion of the attending physician and/or principal investigator, would preclude study treatment
• No other malignancy within the past 5 years except curatively treated cutaneous basal cell or squamous cell carcinoma or carcinoma in situ of the cervix
• PRIOR CONCURRENT THERAPY:
• No more than 3 prior anti-lymphoma regimens, inclusive of the salvage therapy
• * Biologic agents (e.g., monoclonal antibodies and vaccines) administered as part of a planned treatment regimen will not be considered distinct regimens
• * Chemotherapy administered primarily for the purpose of stem cell mobilization (e.g., cyclophosphamide at 2-4 g/m²) will not be considered an anti-lymphoma regimen
• No prior autologous or allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell transplantation