Genetically Modified Therapeutic Autologous Lymphocytes Followed by Aldesleukin in Treating Patients With Stage III or Metastatic Melanoma

PRIMARY OBJECTIVES: I. To assess the feasibility and safety of CXCR2 and NGFR transduced tumor-infiltrating lymphocytes (TIL) for treating metastatic malignant melanoma. SECONDARY OBJECTIVES: I. Determine whether CXCR2 transduction enhances the ability of TIL to migrate to melanoma tumors. II. Determine the levels of CXCL1 and CXCL8 chemokines produced by melanoma tumors and assess whether this correlates with the tumor localization of CXCR2 transduced TIL. III. Characterize the clinical response and correlate with migration of CXCR2 transduced TIL to the tumor and levels of CXCL1 and CXCL8 at the tumor site. OUTLINE: Patients receive cyclophosphamide intravenously (IV) over 2 hours on days -7 and -6, fludarabine phosphate IV daily over 15-30 minutes on days -5 to -1, and CXCR2-transduced autologous TIL and NGFR-transduced autologous TIL IV over up to 4 hours on day 0. Patients then receive high-dose aldesleukin IV over 15 minutes every 8-16 hours on days 1-5 (up to 15 doses) and 22-26 (up to 15 doses). After completion of study treatment, patients are followed up at weeks 6 and 12, every 3 months for a year, and then annually for up to 15 years.