S0310: Vaccine Therapy in Treating Patients With Stage IIIB or Stage IV Bronchoalveolar Lung Cancer

DISEASE CHARACTERISTICS:

* Diagnosis\* of 1 of the following by radiological features and clinical presentation:

  * Bronchoalveolar carcinoma (BAC)

    * Diffuse or ground glass appearance
  * Adenocarcinoma with bronchoalveolar features
  * BAC with focal invasion NOTE: \*Histological confirmation (excluding fine needle aspiration or bronchial brushings or washings) is required after the tumor tissue has been procured and the vaccine has been produced
* Selected stage IIIB (due to malignant pleural effusion) OR stage IV disease
* Measurable or nonmeasurable disease (e.g., diffuse infiltrative process) by CT scan of the chest both before and after tumor tissue procurement for vaccine
* Not a candidate for curative resection
* Tumor accessible for tissue procurement via thoracentesis or a surgical procedure

  * If a pleural effusion is the source of tumor tissue, at least 600 mL of fluid must be available for vaccine manufacture
  * Resection of brain metastases may be used for vaccine processing

    * Surgery must be done after study entry
* Asymptomatic previously treated (e.g., surgical resection or radiotherapy) brain metastases allowed provided the patient is neurologically stable
* No active or impending spinal cord compression or evidence of pericardial tamponade

PATIENT CHARACTERISTICS:

Age

* Over 18

Performance status

* Zubrod 0-1

Life expectancy

* Not specified

Hematopoietic

* Absolute neutrophil count at least 1,500/mm\^3
* Platelet count at least 100,000/mm\^3
* CD4 count greater than 200/mm\^3
* No bleeding disorder

Hepatic

* Bilirubin no greater than 1.5 times upper limit of normal (ULN) (3 times ULN if liver metastases are present)
* SGOT or SGPT no greater than 2.5 times ULN (5 times ULN if liver metastases are present)
* Alkaline phosphatase no greater than 2.5 times ULN (5 times ULN if bone metastases are present)

Renal

* Not specified

Cardiovascular

* See Disease Characteristics
* Patients requiring surgery for tumor tissue procurement must meet the following criteria:

  * Pulmonary artery systolic pressure \< 40 mm Hg by echocardiogram\*
  * LVEF \> 40%
* No symptomatic congestive heart failure
* No thrombolic disorder
* No unstable angina pectoris
* No cardiac arrhythmia NOTE: \*Not needed if patient has no tricuspid regurgitation

Pulmonary

* No pulmonary hypertension
* No significant baseline hypoxia (i.e., O\_2 saturation less than 90% OR requires greater than 2 L/min of supplemental O\_2 via nasal cannula) by an oxygen saturation test
* No postobstructive pneumonia
* Patients requiring thoracoscopic surgery or thoracotomy for tumor tissue procurement must meet the following criteria:

  * Alveolar partial pressure of CO\_2 \< 45 mm Hg
  * Predicted postresection FEV\_1 ≥ 1.0 L
  * DLCO \> 50% of predicted

Immunologic

* No active immune or autoimmune disease
* No systemic lupus erythematosus
* No sarcoiditis
* No rheumatoid arthritis
* No glomerulonephritis
* No vasculitis
* No serious infection
* No hypersensitivity to any of the following:

  * Sargramostim (GM-CSF)
  * Pentastarch
  * Gentamicin
  * Human serum albumin
  * Dimethyl sulfoxide
  * Porcine trypsin
  * Fetal bovine serum
  * Recombinant benzonase
  * Other components of the vaccine or CG6444 adenoviral vector used in this study

Other

* Not pregnant or nursing
* Negative pregnancy test
* Fertile patients must use effective contraception
* No poor nutritional status
* No psychiatric illness or social situation that would preclude study compliance or increase operative risk
* No other malignancy within the past 5 years except adequately treated basal cell or squamous cell skin cancer, carcinoma in situ of the cervix, or adequately treated stage I or II cancer currently in complete remission
* No other concurrent uncontrolled illness

PRIOR CONCURRENT THERAPY:

Biologic therapy

* More than 4 weeks since prior biologic therapy
* No prior gene therapy, including adenoviral-based therapy

Chemotherapy

* More than 4 weeks since prior chemotherapy

  * No prior regional chemotherapy administered through the pulmonary artery (if resection of the tumor in the treated lobe is planned)

Endocrine therapy

* More than 14 days since prior systemic corticosteroids
* No concurrent steroids

Radiotherapy

* See Disease Characteistics
* More than 4 weeks since prior radiotherapy

  * Disease must be outside the areas of prior radiotherapy OR clear progression at prior irradiated sites must be documented
* No prior radiotherapy to the tumor mass targeted for resection

Surgery

* See Disease Characteristics
* More than 7 days since prior surgery and recovered

Other

* More than 2 weeks since prior epidermal growth factor receptor inhibitors
* No other concurrent nonprotocol-specified treatment
* No concurrent immunosuppressants
* No concurrent chronic anticoagulation therapy