Vaccine Therapy and GM-CSF in Treating Patients With Acute Myeloid Leukemia, Myelodysplastic Syndromes, Non-Small Cell Lung Cancer, or Mesothelioma

DISEASE CHARACTERISTICS:

* Cytologically or histologically confirmed diagnosis of 1 of the following:

  * Acute myeloid leukemia, meeting the following criteria:

    * Documented Wilms tumor-1 (WT-1)-positive disease demonstrated by WT-1 protein on a pretreatment bone marrow biopsy OR detectable disease with real-time quantitative reverse transcriptase-polymerase chain reaction (RQ-PCR)
    * Completed induction chemotherapy, achieved clinical remission, and completed postremission therapy OR achieved clinical remission and have no plans for further postremission chemotherapy (≥ 65 years of age)
  * Myelodysplastic syndromes, meeting the following criteria:

    * Documented WT-1-positive disease demonstrated by WT-1 protein on a pretreatment bone marrow biopsy OR detectable disease by RQ-PCR
    * International Prognostic Scoring System (IPSS) score of ≥ Int-2
    * Not a candidate for cytotoxic chemotherapy
  * Non-small cell lung cancer, meeting the following criteria:

    * Positive tumor staining for WT-1 in \> 10% of cells
    * Stage III or IV disease
    * Completed chemotherapy, surgery, and/or radiotherapy
  * Mesothelioma, meeting the following criteria:

    * Positive tumor staining for WT-1 in \> 10% of cells
    * Unresectable or relapsed disease
    * Chemo-naive or received 1 prior chemotherapy regimen
    * Malignant pleural mesothelioma or peritoneal mesothelioma
* No leptomeningeal disease
* No CNS involvement

PATIENT CHARACTERISTICS:

* Karnofsky performance status 70-100%
* Absolute neutrophil count ≥ 1,000/mm³
* Platelet count \> 50,000/mm³ (except for myelodysplastic syndromes where parameter is \> 20,000/mm³ and not transfusion dependent)
* Bilirubin ≤ 2.0 mg/dL
* AST and ALT ≤ 2.5 times upper limit of normal
* Creatinine ≤ 2.0 mg/dL
* Not pregnant or nursing
* Negative pregnancy test
* Fertile patients must use effective contraception
* No active infection requiring systemic antibiotics, antiviral, or antifungal treatments
* No serious unstable medical illness

PRIOR CONCURRENT THERAPY:

* See Disease Characteristics
* At least 4 weeks since prior chemotherapy or radiotherapy
* No concurrent systemic corticosteroids