Vaccine Therapy With or Without Sirolimus in Treating Patients With NY-ESO-1 Expressing Solid Tumors

Inclusion Criteria

• •Patients with any solid tumors at high risk of recurrence or with minimal residual disease; there may or may not be measurable or symptomatic disease (i.e., patients with bladder, brain, breast, esophageal, gastrointestinal, hepatocellular, kidney, lungs, melanoma, ovarian, prostate, sarcomas, and uterine)
• •Cancer types:
• •* Prostate cancer: patients with metastatic, castrate refractory prostate cancer; the use of luteinizing hormone-releasing hormone (LHRH) agonist is allowed
• •* Kidney cancer: patients with metastatic kidney cancer; prior therapies with cytokines, vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) and mechanistic target of rapamycin (serine/threonine kinase) (mTOR) inhibitors are allowed
• •* Bladder cancer: patients with metastatic urothelial carcinoma; prior cisplatin-based therapies are allowed
• •* Ovarian cancer: eligible patients may have asymptomatic residual measurable disease on physical examination and/or computed tomography (CT) scan, and/or may have an elevated cancer antigen (CA)-125; or may be in complete clinical remission after treatment for primary or recurrent disease
• •* Brain tumors: histologic proof of one of the following: glioblastoma multiforme, anaplastic astrocytoma, anaplastic oligodendroglioma or anaplastic mixed glioma or anaplastic oligoastrocytoma; patients who have had recent cranial surgery are eligible for inclusion, but the vaccine may not be administered prior to postoperative day 14
• •* Uterine cancer: patients with advanced (stages II-IV) or recurrent disease who have completed standard therapy, currently no evidence of disease (NED) or with minimal residual disease; patients with stage I uterine serous carcinomas or sarcomas are also eligible after completion of standard therapy
• •* Breast cancer: patients can enter study after completion of all chemotherapy (including trastuzumab), radiation, and breast/axillary surgery; patients may participate while on endocrine therapy; stages I-III patients with the following characteristics:
• •* Estrogen-receptor (ER) negative with positive lymph nodes; ER negative with negative nodes if tumor \> 2 cm; ER positive with positive lymph nodes; and ER positive with negative lymph nodes and tumor \> 5 cm
• •* Sarcomas: patients with sarcomas of any site, who have completed standard therapy, and are in remission, or have minimal disease burden
• •* Lungs: resected patients with hilar or ipsilateral mediastinal nodal disease (i.e., a subset of patients with stage II and IIIA disease); and patients with residual disease on imaging after definitive radiation or chemoradiation therapy
• •* Esophageal: resected patients with any nodal (i.e., thoracic or abdominal) disease; and patients with residual disease on imaging after definitive chemoradiation therapy
• •* Melanoma: stage IIB, stage IIC, and stage III who have completed planned definitive therapy for their disease including radiotherapy and/or interferon; patients declining interferon or with contra-indications to interferon will also be eligible provided they meet requisite criteria for this study (i.e., non-measurable disease); stage IV melanoma of M1a sub-type only, who are not candidates for additional therapy of curative potential (i.e., small volume disease; may be measurable or evaluable); and stage IV melanoma, NED, status post (s/p) complete resection of known sites of disease (i.e., non-measurable disease)
• •* Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC): patients who have been treated with surgical resection for HCC; and following chemoembolization as adjuvant therapy for HCC
• •* Gastrointestinal: patients who have completed standard therapies for gastric and colorectal cancers, and deemed to be at high-risk of relapse
• •Any human leukocyte antigen (HLA) type; historic HLA typing is permitted
• •Tumor expression of NY-ESO-1 or LAGE-1 by immunohistochemistry (IHC) and/or reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (RTPCR)
• •Life expectancy \> 6 months
• •Absolute neutrophil count (ANC) \>= 1,000/uL
• •Platelets (PLT) \>= 75,000/uL
• •Hemoglobin (Hgb) \>= 8 g/dL
• •Total bilirubin =\< 1.5 x upper limit of normal (ULN)
• •Serum aspartate aminotransferase (serum glutamic oxaloacetic transaminase \[SGOT\]/aspartate aminotransferase \[AST\]) or serum alanine aminotransferase (serum glutamate pyruvate transaminase \[SGPT\]/alanine aminotransferase \[ALT\]) =\< 3 x ULN
• •Serum creatinine =\< 2 x ULN
• •Prothrombin time (PT)/international normalized ratio (INR) =\< 1.5 x ULN; patients receiving anticoagulation therapy, PT/INR =\< 3
• •Pulmonary function tests: forced expiratory volume in one second (FEV1) \> 50% and diffusion capacity of the lungs for carbon monoxide (DLCO) \> 50%
• •Pulse oximetry: oxygen (O2) saturation \>= 90% on room air
• •Electrocardiogram, showing no clinical significant or acute abnormality
• •Have been informed of other treatment options
• •Patient or legal representative must understand the investigational nature of this study and sign an Independent Ethics Committee/Institutional Review Board approved written informed consent form prior to receiving any study related procedure
• •Have an Eastern Cooperative Oncology Group (ECOG) performance status of =\< 2
• •Patients of child-bearing potential must agree to use acceptable contraceptive methods (e.g., double barrier) during treatment