Vaccine Therapy in Treating Patients With Metastatic, Progressive Prostate Cancer

DISEASE CHARACTERISTICS:

* Histologically confirmed prostate cancer with evidence of progressive disease despite hormonal therapy (i.e., hormone-refractory prostate cancer)

  * Metastatic disease
  * Progressive disease defined by any of the following:

    * New bone lesion on bone scan
    * Progression of nodal or soft tissue as evidenced by standard radiographic methods, i.e., CT scan or MRI
    * A 50% increase in PSA level from the nadir PSA level confirmed twice and measured at least 2 weeks apart, with stable and measurable disease
* Castrate serum levels of testosterone \< 50 ng/dL
* If patient was receiving anti-androgen therapy, in addition to luteinizing hormone-releasing hormone (LHRH) agonist therapy, the evidence of progressive disease should persist after a trial of anti-androgen withdrawal

  * Treatment with LHRH agonist to maintain androgen ablation must continue throughout this trial
* Baseline PSA ≥ 10 ng/mL
* All patients with androgen-independent prostate cancer and matched HLA typing are eligible for vaccination regardless of initial NY-ESO-1 expression status

  * Patients must be typed for HLA-DR4, DR13, DP4, or HLA-A2 haplotypes
* No active brain metastases

PATIENT CHARACTERISTICS:

* Zubrod performance status 0-2
* Life expectancy ≥ 12 weeks
* ANC ≥ 1,500/mm³
* Hemoglobin ≥ 10 mg/dL
* Platelet count ≥ 100,000/mm³
* Bilirubin ≤ 1.5 mg/dL
* SGPT ≤ 3 times upper limit of normal
* Serum creatinine ≤ 2 mg/dL
* Wiling to be followed at Baylor College of Medicine
* No serious intercurrent medical illness
* No history of primary or secondary immunodeficiency
* No active systemic infection
* No known hepatitis B surface antigen, hepatitis C, or HIV antibody positivity
* No history of cardiac arrhythmia or ischemic heart disease

PRIOR CONCURRENT THERAPY:

* See Disease Characteristics
* At least 6 weeks since prior immunotherapy (including anti-androgen therapy) and recovered
* More than 28 days since prior chemotherapy
* No concurrent immunosuppressive drugs such as systemic corticosteroids