Vaccine Therapy in Treating Patients With Kidney Cancer

DISEASE CHARACTERISTICS:

• Histologically confirmed renal cell carcinoma

• Patients with minimal disease burden are eligible provided they meet one or more of the following criteria:

  • Prior nephrectomy and completely resected metastases

  • Favorable-risk group, as defined by all of the following criteria:

    • Karnofsky 80-100%
    • Hemoglobin ≥ 13 g/dL (male) or ≥ 12 g/dL (female)
    • Corrected calcium ≤ 10 mg/dL
    • Prior nephrectomy
    • Serum lactate dehydrogenase ≤ 200 μ/L
  • Prior nephrectomy with metastases confined to lung and/or small volume metastatic disease (< 3 cm) exclusive of bone and liver
• No spinal, epidural, or CNS lesions
• No bone, liver or brain disease

PATIENT CHARACTERISTICS:

Age

• 18 and over

Performance status

• See Disease Characteristics
• Karnofsky 80-100%

Life expectancy

• Not specified

Hematopoietic

• See Disease Characteristics
• WBC ≥ 3,500/mm^3
• Hemoglobin ≥ 12.0 g/dL
• Platelet count ≥ 100,000/mm^3

Hepatic

• Bilirubin < 2.0 mg/dL
• SGOT < 3.0 times upper limit of normal

Renal

• See Disease Characteristics
• Creatinine ≤ 2.0 mg/dL OR
• Creatinine clearance ≥ 40 mL/min

Cardiovascular

• No clinically significant cardiac disease
• No New York Heart Association class III or IV heart disease

Pulmonary

• No severe debilitating pulmonary disease

Other

• Fertile patients must use effective contraception
• No other active secondary malignancy within the past 5 years except non-melanoma skin cancer
• No infection requiring antibiotic treatment
• No narcotic- or steroid-dependent pain

PRIOR CONCURRENT THERAPY:

Biologic therapy

• Not specified

Chemotherapy

• At least 4 weeks since prior chemotherapy

Endocrine therapy

• At least 4 weeks since prior corticosteroid therapy

Radiotherapy

• At least 4 weeks since prior radiotherapy
• No concurrent radiotherapy to only measurable lesion

Surgery

• See Disease Characteristics
• No concurrent surgery

Other

• Recovered from all prior therapy
• No other concurrent anticancer therapy