Vaccine Therapy in Treating Patients With Recurrent Stage III or Stage IV Melanoma That Cannot Be Removed by Surgery

Inclusion criteria

DISEASE CHARACTERISTICS: * Histologically confirmed melanoma meeting the following criteria: * Unresectable recurrent disease * Stage III or IV disease * Cutaneous, ocular, or mucosal melanoma * Measurable disease as defined by the RECIST criteria * HLA-A2 positive * Prior brain metastases allowed provided adequate surgical or radiologic treatment for brain disease PATIENT CHARACTERISTICS: * ECOG performance status 0 or 1 * WBC ≥ 3,000/mm³ * Lymphocytes ≥ 1,000/mm³ * Platelet count ≥ 100,000/mm³ * Creatinine ≤ 1.5 times upper limit of normal (ULN) * Bilirubin ≤ 1.5 times ULN * AST and ALT ≤ 2.5 times ULN * Lactic dehydrogenase ≤ 2.0 times ULN * aPTT \< 40 seconds * Not pregnant or nursing * Negative pregnancy test * Fertile patients must use effective contraception for ≥ 1 week before, during, and for ≥ 2 weeks after completion of study therapy * No conditions of immunosuppression * Negative titers for antinuclear antibody (≤ 1/80) and antidouble stranded DNA (≤ 1/10) * No serious illnesses including, but not limited to, any of the following: * Bleeding disorders * Autoimmune diseases * Severe obstructive or restrictive pulmonary diseases * Active systemic infections * Inflammatory bowel disorders * No serious cardiovascular disease including, but not limited to, any of the following: * Uncontrolled congestive heart failure * Hypertension * Cardiac ischemia * Myocardial infarction, * Severe cardiac arrhythmia * HIV1 and 2 negative * HTLV-1 negative * Hepatitis B and C negative * No significant psychiatric disease, medical intervention, or other condition that, in the opinion of the principal investigator, would limit study compliance * No active infection within the past week, including unexplained fever (temperature \> 38.1°C) PRIOR CONCURRENT THERAPY: * Fully recovered from prior major surgery * More than 4 weeks since prior chemotherapy (6 weeks for mitomycin C or nitrosoureas), hormonal therapy, radiotherapy, or biological therapy * More than 1 week since prior antibiotics * More than 28 days since prior investigational agent * No prior vaccination with MART-1 (26-35, 27L), gp100 (209-217, 210M), and tyrosinase (368-376, 370D) peptides alone or in combination * Patients with history of vaccination with peptides other than MART-1 (26-35, 27L), gp100 (209-217, 210M), and tyrosinase (368-376, 370D) peptides allowed * More than 4 weeks since prior and no concurrent systemic immunosuppressive therapy, including steroids * Patients on maintenance steroids given at physiologic doses because of adrenal insufficiency are eligible * More than 2 weeks since prior and no concurrent treatment with systemic steroids, including oral steroids, continuous use of topical steroid creams or ointments, or any inhaled steroids * No concurrent anticoagulants, except to keep an indwelling line patent * No other concurrent anticancer therapy, including chemotherapy, immunotherapy, radiotherapy, experimental programs, and/or surgery