RATIONALE: Vaccines made from a peptide may make the body build an immune response and kill tumor cells.

PURPOSE: Randomized phase I trial to study the effectiveness of vaccine therapy in treating patients who have metastatic cancer that has not responded to previous therapy.

OBJECTIVES: I. Determine the toxicity profile of MAGE-12 peptide vaccine in patients with refractory metastatic cancer that expresses MAGE-12 antigen.

II. Determine whether an immunologic response, as measured by an in vitro sensitization assay, can be obtained after administration of this regimen in these patients.

III. Determine a frequency of administration for this regimen based on immunologic response in these patients.

IV. Determine other immunologic parameters in these patients treated with this regimen.

V. Determine the clinical response rate in these patients treated with this regimen.

PROTOCOL OUTLINE: This is a randomized study. Patients are stratified according to disease (metastatic cutaneous melanoma vs other tumor types). Patients are randomized to one of two treatment arms.

Arm I: Patients receive MAGE-12 peptide vaccine emulsified in Montanide ISA-51 adjuvant subcutaneously (SC) weekly for 4 doses.

Arm II: Patients receive MAGE-12 peptide vaccine emulsified in Montanide ISA-51 adjuvant SC once every 3 weeks for 4 doses.

Patients with progressive disease may receive interleukin-2 IV over 15 minutes every 8 hours, beginning on the day after each immunization and continuing for up to 4 days. Patients achieving stable disease or a mixed, partial, or complete response continue on vaccine therapy alone for up to 24 total doses.

Patients are followed at 3 weeks.

PROJECTED ACCRUAL:

A total of 26-56 patients (13-28 per treatment arm) will be accrued for this study within 1 year.

PROTOCOL ENTRY CRITERIA:

--Disease Characteristics-- Histologically documented metastatic cancer of one of the following types: Cutaneous melanoma Ocular melanoma Colorectal carcinoma Non-small cell lung cancer Breast carcinoma Sarcoma HLA-Cw*0702 positive MAGE-12 expression by RT-PCR amplified tissue analysis Failed prior standard therapy Measurable or evaluable disease No renal carcinoma Hormone receptor status: Not specified --Prior/Concurrent Therapy-- Biologic therapy: At least 3 weeks since prior biologic therapy for cancer No other concurrent biologic therapy for cancer Chemotherapy: At least 3 weeks since prior chemotherapy for cancer and recovered No concurrent chemotherapy for cancer Endocrine therapy: At least 3 weeks since prior hormonal therapy for cancer No concurrent hormonal therapy for cancer No concurrent steroids Radiotherapy: At least 3 weeks since prior radiotherapy for cancer and recovered No concurrent radiotherapy for cancer Surgery: Prior surgery for cancer allowed --Patient Characteristics-- Age: 16 and over Sex: Male or female Menopausal status: Not specified Performance status: ECOG 0-2 Life expectancy: Greater than 3 months Hematopoietic: WBC at least 3,000/mm3 Platelet count at least 90,000/mm3 Hepatic: Bilirubin no greater than 1.6 mg/dL AST/ALT less than 3 times normal Renal: Creatinine no greater than 2.0 mg/dL Cardiovascular: No cardiac ischemia, myocardial infarction, or cardiac arrhythmias (if receiving interleukin-2 (IL-2) therapy) Pulmonary: No obstructive or restrictive pulmonary disease (if receiving IL-2 therapy) Other: Not pregnant Negative pregnancy test Fertile patients must use effective contraception No active systemic infections No autoimmune disease, known immunodeficiency disease, or active primary or secondary immunodeficiency Hepatitis B surface antigen negative HIV negative No other active major medical illnesses (if receiving IL-2 therapy)