Basiliximab in Treating Patients With Newly Diagnosed Glioblastoma Multiforme Undergoing Targeted Immunotherapy and Temozolomide-Caused Lymphopenia

OBJECTIVES: Primary * To determine if basiliximab inhibits the functional and numeric recovery of T-regulatory cells after therapeutic temozolomide (TMZ)-induced lymphopenia in the context of vaccinating adult patients with newly diagnosed glioblastoma multiforme (GBM) using cytomegalovirus (CMV) pp65-lysosomal-associated membrane protein (LAMP) mRNA-loaded dendritic cells (DCs) with GM-CSF in patients who are seropositive and seronegative for CMV. Secondary * To evaluate the safety of basiliximab in these patients. * To determine if basiliximab enhances the magnitude or character of pp65-specific vaccine-induced cellular or humoral immune responses, inhibits or enhances activation-induced cell death, or induces immunologic or clinical evidence of autoimmunity. * To determine if basiliximab alters the phenotype (CD56 expression), cytokine secretion profile, or cytotoxicity of CD3-CD56+ natural killer cells. * To determine if basiliximab in addition to vaccination extends progression-free survival compared to historical cohorts. * To characterize immunologic cell infiltrate in recurrent tumors and seek evidence of antigen-escape outgrowth. OUTLINE: Patients undergo leukapheresis for generation of dendritic cells (DCs) after resection. After initial leukapheresis, all patients undergo stereotactic radiotherapy (RT) on days 1-5 and concurrent temozolomide (TMZ) IV on days 1-7 for 6.5 weeks in the absence of disease progression or unacceptable toxicity. Beginning 3 weeks after completion of RT, patients receive TMZ IV on days 1-5. Treatment repeats every 28 days for 12 courses in the absence of disease progression or unacceptable toxicity. On day 14 ± 2 days of this first cycle of TMZ, patients will receive basiliximab, which is 7 days (± 2 days) before DC vaccine #1 and 2 weeks later, a second dose of basiliximab will be given, which is also 7 days before vaccine # 2. All patients will undergo leukapheresis again for DC generation and immunologic monitoring with specific assessment of baseline antigen-specific cellular and humoral immune responses 3 + 1 weeks after vaccine #3. Patients will then be treated monthly with TMZ cycles for a total of 12 cycles . On day 21 ± 2 days of each TMZ cycle, patients will receive monthly vaccines for a total of 8 vaccines. Patients will have blood drawn for immunologic monitoring before basiliximab infusions and prior to vaccines 1, 2, 3, and prior to monthly vaccines and then bimonthly through TMZ cycles without receiving any other prescribed antitumor therapy until progression. After completion of study treatment, patients are followed every 2 months.