Tissue and Blood Biomarkers From Patients With Stage III or Stage IV Melanoma Treated With Ipilimumab With or Without Sargramostim

OBJECTIVES: * To compare the pathology of primary melanomas, melanoma metastases, and post-treatment melanoma metastases in relation to clinical outcomes for patients receiving ipilimumab plus sargramostim (GM-CSF) and patients receiving ipilimumab alone. * To determine the effects of the addition of systemic GM-CSF to ipilimumab on effector immune function in patients with metastatic melanoma. * To determine the effects of the addition of systemic GM-CSF to ipilimumab on regulatory immune function in patients with metastatic melanoma. * To determine the effects of the addition of systemic GM-CSF to ipilimumab on anti-tumor humoral immunity in patients with metastatic melanoma. OUTLINE: Serum, peripheral blood mononuclear cells, and tumor tissue (from primary tumor and post-treatment biopsies) samples are analyzed for biomarkers predictive of clinical outcomes, immune function, and anti-tumor humoral immunity by IHC, RT-PCR, flow cytometry, ELISPOT assays, and ELISA.