Vaccine Therapy With or Without Imiquimod in Treating Patients Who Have Undergone Surgery for Stage II, Stage III, or Stage IV Melanoma

DISEASE CHARACTERISTICS:

* Histologically or cytologically confirmed melanoma

  * Stage II-IV disease
* Has undergone surgical resection within the past 12 months

  * No clinical or radiological evidence of disease after surgical resection
  * Must have ≥ 1 undissected axillary and/or inguinal lymph node basin
* HLA-A1, -A2, or -A3 positive
* Ineligible for OR refused interferon

PATIENT CHARACTERISTICS:

Age

* 12 and over

Performance status

* ECOG 0-1

Life expectancy

* Not specified

Hematopoietic

* Absolute neutrophil count \> 1,000/mm\^3
* Platelet count \> 100,000/mm\^3
* Hemoglobin \> 9 g/dL

Hepatic

* AST and ALT ≤ 2.5 times upper limit of normal (ULN)
* Bilirubin ≤ 2.5 times ULN
* Lactic dehydrogenase ≤ 1.5 times ULN
* Alkaline phosphatase ≤ 2.5 times ULN
* Hepatitis C negative

Renal

* Creatinine ≤ 1.5 times ULN

Cardiovascular

* No New York Heart Association class III or IV heart disease

Immunologic

* HIV negative
* No known or suspected allergy to any component of the study vaccines
* No autoimmune disorder with visceral involvement
* No prior active autoimmune disorder requiring cytotoxic or immunosuppressive therapy
* The following immunologic conditions are allowed:

  * Laboratory evidence of autoimmune disease (e.g., positive anti-nuclear antibody titer) without symptoms
  * Clinical evidence of vitiligo
  * Other forms of depigmenting illness
  * Mild arthritis requiring non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs

Other

* Not pregnant or nursing
* Negative pregnancy test
* Fertile patients must use effective contraception
* Weight ≥ 110 lbs
* No uncontrolled diabetes

  * Hemoglobin A1C \< 7% (for patients with diabetes)
* No medical contraindication or potential problem that would preclude study compliance
* No known active addiction to alcohol or drugs
* No recent (within the past year) or ongoing illicit IV drug use

PRIOR CONCURRENT THERAPY:

Biologic therapy

* Prior vaccinations that resulted in recurrent disease during or after vaccine administration allowed provided the last vaccination was administered more than 12 weeks ago
* Prior multi-epitope melanoma peptide vaccine that resulted in a negative immune response allowed
* More than 4 weeks since prior and no concurrent interferon (e.g., Intron-A®), interleukins (e.g., Proleukin®), or growth factors (e.g., Procrit®, Aranesp®, or Neulasta®)
* More than 4 weeks since prior and no concurrent allergy desensitization injections
* No influenza vaccine for at least 2 weeks before or after study vaccine administration

Chemotherapy

* More than 4 weeks since prior chemotherapy (6 weeks for nitrosoureas \[e.g., carmustine or lomustine\])
* No concurrent chemotherapy, including nitrosoureas

Endocrine therapy

* More than 4 weeks since prior and no concurrent oral or parenteral corticosteroids (e.g., prednisone)
* No prior or concurrent inhaled steroids (e.g., Advair®, Flovent®, Azmacort®)
* Concurrent topical corticosteroids allowed

Radiotherapy

* More than 4 weeks since prior and no concurrent radiotherapy
* Prior stereotactic radiosurgery allowed provided it was completed within the past 12 months

Surgery

* See Disease Characteristics
* More than 4 weeks since prior surgical resection of metastatic lesion(s)
* No concurrent surgery requiring general anesthesia

Other

* More than 4 weeks since prior and no other concurrent investigational agents
* More than 30 days since prior and no concurrent participation in another clinical study
* No other concurrent immunosuppressive therapy