Ipilimumab With or Without High-Dose Recombinant Interferon Alfa-2b in Treating Patients With Stage III-IV Melanoma That Cannot Be Removed by Surgery

PRIMARY OBJECTIVES: I. Test the hypothesis that the combination of ipilimumab and high-dose interferon-alpha 2b (HDI \[recombinant interferon alfa-2b\]) will improve progression free survival (PFS) of patients with advanced metastatic melanoma as compared to ipilimumab alone (across ipilimumab treatment status). SECONDARY OBJECTIVES: I. Test the hypothesis that the combination of ipilimumab and HDI will prove to be safe and tolerable. II. Within the constraints of the sample size, attempt to test the hypotheses that (1) ipilimumab 10 mg/kg will lead to improved PFS in comparison to ipilimumab 3 mg/kg (across HDI treatment status); (2) the combination of ipilimumab and HDI will improve overall survival (OS) of patients with advanced metastatic melanoma as compared to ipilimumab alone (across ipilimumab treatment status) and (3) ipilimumab 10 mg/kg will lead to improved OS in comparison to ipilimumab 3 mg/kg (across HDI treatment status). OUTLINE: Patients are randomized to 1 of 4 treatment arms. ARM A: INDUCTION PHASE: Patients receive higher dose ipilimumab intravenously (IV) over 90 minutes once every 3 weeks for 4 doses and recombinant interferon alfa-2b IV over 20 minutes 5 days a week for 4 weeks and then subcutaneously (SC) 3 times weekly for 8 weeks. MAINTENANCE PHASE: Patients receive higher dose ipilimumab IV over 90 minutes once every 12 weeks for 4 doses beginning in week 24 and recombinant interferon alfa-2b SC 3 times weekly for 48 weeks. ARM B: INDUCTION PHASE: Patients receive higher dose ipilimumab IV over 90 minutes once every 3 weeks for 4 doses. MAINTENANCE PHASE: Patients receive higher dose ipilimumab IV over 90 minutes once every 12 weeks for 4 doses beginning in week 24. ARM C: INDUCTION PHASE: Patients receive lower dose ipilimumab IV over 90 minutes once every 3 weeks for 4 doses and recombinant interferon alfa-2b IV over 20 minutes 5 days a week for 4 weeks and then SC 3 times weekly for 8 weeks. MAINTENANCE PHASE: Patients receive lower dose ipilimumab IV over 90 minutes once every 12 weeks for 4 doses beginning in week 24 and recombinant interferon alfa-2b SC 3 times weekly for 48 weeks. ARM D: INDUCTION PHASE: Patients receive lower dose ipilimumab IV over 90 minutes once every 3 weeks for 4 doses. MAINTENANCE PHASE: Patients receive lower dose ipilimumab IV over 90 minutes once every 12 weeks for 4 doses beginning in week 24. In all arms, treatment continues in the absence of disease progression or unacceptable toxicity. After completion of study treatment, patients are followed up every 3 months for 2 years, every 6 months for 3 years, and then annually for up to 5 years.