vaccine therapy with or without sirolimus in treating patients with ny-eso-1 expressing solid tumors

Conditions: Anaplastic Astrocytoma; Anaplastic Oligoastrocytoma; Anaplastic Oligodendroglioma; Estrogen Receptor Negative; Estrogen Receptor Positive; Glioblastoma; Hormone-Resistant Prostate Cancer; Metastatic Prostate Carcinoma; Metastatic Renal Cell Cancer; Recurrent Adult Brain Neoplasm; Recurrent Bladder Carcinoma; Recurrent Breast Carcinoma; Recurrent Colorectal Carcinoma; Recurrent Esophageal Carcinoma; Recurrent Gastric Carcinoma; Recurrent Hepatocellular Carcinoma; Recurrent Lung Carcinoma; Recurrent Melanoma; Recurrent Ovarian Carcinoma; Recurrent Prostate Carcinoma; Recurrent Renal Cell Carcinoma; Recurrent Uterine Corpus Carcinoma; Resectable Hepatocellular Carcinoma; Sarcoma; Stage IA Breast Cancer; Stage IA Ovarian Cancer; Stage IA Uterine Corpus Cancer; Stage IB Breast Cancer; Stage IB Ovarian Cancer; Stage IB Uterine Corpus Cancer; Stage IC Ovarian Cancer; Stage II Uterine Corpus Cancer; Stage IIA Breast Cancer; Stage IIA Lung Carcinoma; Stage IIA Ovarian Cancer; Stage IIB Breast Cancer; Stage IIB Esophageal Cancer; Stage IIB Lung Carcinoma; Stage IIB Ovarian Cancer; Stage IIB Skin Melanoma; Stage IIC Ovarian Cancer; Stage IIC Skin Melanoma; Stage IIIA Breast Cancer; Stage IIIA Esophageal Cancer; Stage IIIA Lung Carcinoma; Stage IIIA Ovarian Cancer; Stage IIIA Skin Melanoma; Stage IIIA Uterine Corpus Cancer; Stage IIIB Breast Cancer; Stage IIIB Esophageal Cancer; Stage IIIB Ovarian Cancer; Stage IIIB Skin Melanoma; Stage IIIB Uterine Corpus Cancer; Stage IIIC Breast Cancer; Stage IIIC Esophageal Cancer; Stage IIIC Ovarian Cancer; Stage IIIC Skin Melanoma; Stage IIIC Uterine Corpus Cancer; Stage IV Bladder Urothelial Carcinoma; Stage IV Esophageal Cancer; Stage IV Ovarian Cancer; Stage IV Prostate Cancer; Stage IV Skin Melanoma; Stage IVA Uterine Corpus Cancer; Stage IVB Uterine Corpus Cancer

Summary: this phase i trial studies the side effects and best schedule of vaccine therapy with or without sirolimus in treating patients with cancer-testis antigen (ny-eso-1) expressing solid tumors. biological therapies, such as sirolimus, may stimulate the immune system in different ways and stop tumor cells from growing. vaccines made from a person's white blood cells mixed with tumor proteins may help the body build an effective immune response to kill tumor cells that express ny-eso-1. infusing the vaccine directly into a lymph node may cause a stronger immune response and kill more tumor cells. it is not yet known whether vaccine therapy works better when given with or without sirolimus in treating solid tumors.

primary objectives: i. determine the safety of dc205-ny-eso-1 vaccine (dec-205/ny-eso-1 fusion protein cdx-1401) with and without sirolimus. toxicity as defined by the national cancer institute (nci) common terminology criteria for adverse events (ctcae) version 4.0. secondary objectives: i. assess the ny-eso-1 specific cellular and humoral immunity: * peripheral blood ny-eso-1 specific cluster of differentiation (cd)8+ and cd4+ t-cells. * peripheral blood ny-eso-1 specific antibodies. * peripheral blood frequency of cd4+cd25+forkhead box p3 (foxp3)+ regulatory t-cells. tertiary objectives: i. explore time to disease progression. outline: patients undergo standard collection of peripheral white blood cells via leukapheresis over 90-240 minutes for vaccine preparation. patients are assigned sequentially to cohorts 1a-1d. cohort 1a: patients receive dec-205/ny-eso-1 fusion protein cdx-1401 intranodally on days 1, 29, 57, and 113. cohort 1b: patients receive dec-205/ny-eso-1 fusion protein cdx-1401 as in cohort 1a and sirolimus orally (po) on days 1-14, 29-42, and 57-70. cohort 1c: patients receive dec-205/ny-eso-1 fusion protein cdx-1401 as in cohort 1a and sirolimus po or percutaneous endoscopic gastrostomy (peg) tube on days 15-28, 43-56, and 71-84. cohort 1d: patients receive dec-205/ny-eso-1 fusion protein cdx-1401 as in cohort 1a and sirolimus po or peg on days 1-84. cohort 2: patients receive dec-205/ny-eso-1 fusion protein cdx-1401 as in the cohort (1a-1d) that is determined to be safe and produces optimal immunological effects and sirolimus po on days 1-14 as in cohort 1b dose. after completion of study treatment, patients are followed up at 6 weeks, 6 months and 12 months.

Eligibility criteria:
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 exclusion criteria: * metastatic disease to the central nervous system for which other therapeutic options, including radiotherapy, may be available * other serious illnesses (e.g., serious infections requiring antibiotics, bleeding disorders) * history of severe autoimmune disorders requiring use of steroids or other immunosuppressives * concomitant systemic treatment with corticosteroids, anti-histamine or non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs, aspirin \> 325 mg; specific cyclooxygenase (cox)-2 inhibitors are permitted * chemotherapy, radiation therapy, or immunotherapy within 4 weeks prior to first dosing of study agent (6 weeks for nitrosoureas); concomitant hormonal therapies for breast and prostate cancers are allowed * clinically significant heart disease (new york heart association \[nyha\] class iii or iv) within 6 months * mental impairment that may compromise the ability to give informed consent and comply with the requirements of the study * lack of availability of a patient for immunological and clinical follow-up assessment * known pulmonary hypertension * known hypersensitivity to sirolimus * evidence of current drug or alcohol abuse or psychiatric impairment, which in the investigator's opinion will prevent completion of the protocol therapy or follow-up * pregnant or nursing female patients * unwilling or unable to follow protocol requirements * any condition which in the investigator's opinion deems the patient an unsuitable candidate to receive study drug; (i.e., any significant medical illness or abnormal laboratory finding that would, in the investigator's judgment, increase the subject's risk by participating in this study) * received an investigational agent within 30 days prior to enrollment * known hepatitis b, hepatitis c, or human immunodeficiency virus (hiv)