Immunotherapy in Treating Patients With Resected Liver Metastases From Colon Cancer

DISEASE CHARACTERISTICS:

* Histologically confirmed adenocarcinoma of the colon metastatic to the liver that expresses carcinoembryonic antigen (CEA) after resection with curative intent

  * At least 50% of the tumor cells must stain positive for CEA with at least moderate intensity
* No gross residual disease after surgery

PATIENT CHARACTERISTICS:

Age:

* 18 and over

Performance status:

* Karnofsky 70-100%

Life expectancy:

* Greater than 6 months

Hematopoietic:

* Absolute neutrophil count at least 1000/mm 3
* Hemoglobin at least 9 g/dL
* Platelet count at least 100,000/mm\^3

Hepatic:

* Bilirubin less than 2.0 mg/dL
* No chronic or acute hepatic disease

Renal:

* Creatinine less than 2.5 mg/dL

Cardiovascular:

* No chronic or acute cardiac disease (New York Heart Association class III or IV)

Pulmonary:

* No chronic or acute pulmonary illness such as asthma or chronic obstructive pulmonary disease

Other:

* Not pregnant or nursing
* No other prior or concurrent malignancy except nonmelanoma skin cancer or controlled superficial bladder cancer within the past 5 years
* No history of autoimmune disease such as inflammatory bowel disease, systemic lupus erythematosus, ankylosing spondylitis, scleroderma, and multiple sclerosis
* No active acute or chronic infection such as urinary tract infection, HIV, or viral hepatitis
* No active infectious enteritis or eosinophilic enteritis

PRIOR CONCURRENT THERAPY:

Biologic therapy:

* No other concurrent immunotherapy

Chemotherapy:

* No concurrent chemotherapy
* At least 6 weeks since prior chemotherapy

Endocrine therapy:

* No concurrent steroid therapy (or any other immunosuppressives)
* At least 6 weeks since prior steroid therapy

Radiotherapy:

* No concurrent radiotherapy
* At least 6 weeks since prior radiotherapy

Surgery:

* Recovered from prior surgery