Vaccine Therapy and 1-MT in Treating Patients With Metastatic Breast Cancer

Inclusion Criteria:

* In the phase I patients with any solid tumor positive for p53 by IHC (\>= 5% of cells with any degree of nuclear staining) staining; for the phase II, patients must have histologically or cytologically confirmed metastatic invasive breast cancer that is positive for p53 staining by IHC (\>= 5% of cells with any degree of nuclear staining); patients will sign a separate consent for the p53 testing, and those that meet the above requirements will then be allowed to sign the vaccine trial consent
* Patients must have measurable disease, defined as at least one lesion that can be accurately measured in at least one dimension (longest diameter to be recorded) as \>= 20 mm with conventional techniques or as \>= 10 mm with spiral computed tomography (CT) scan
* There are no restrictions on prior therapies for the phase I part of the trial; for the phase II, patients may have received up to 2 prior lines of chemotherapy (not counting endocrine therapy lines) with the last dose of chemotherapy given 3 weeks (6 weeks for nitrosoureas and mitomycin C) prior to initiation on this study
* Life expectancy of greater than 4 months
* Eastern Cooperative Oncology Group (ECOG) performance status =\< 1 (Karnofsky \>= 70%)
* Leukocytes \>= 3,000/μL
* Absolute neutrophil count \>= 1,500/μL
* Platelets \>= 100,000/μL
* Total bilirubin within normal institutional limits unless patient has Gilbert's disease
* Aspartate aminotransferase (AST) /serum glutamic oxaloacetic transaminase (SGOT) /alanine aminotransferase (ALT) /serum glutamic pyruvate transaminase (SGPT) =\< 2.5 X institutional upper limit of normal
* Creatinine within normal institutional limits OR creatinine clearance \>= 60 mL/min/1.73 m\^2 for patients with creatinine levels above institutional normal
* Thyroid-stimulating hormone (TSH), luteinizing hormone (LH), follicle-stimulating hormone (FSH), adrenocorticotropic hormone (ACTH) showing normal pituitary function; these values may deviate if in the opinion of the investigator these are normal pituitary responses to another endocrine condition such as suboptimally treated hypothyroidism
* Patients with known brain metastases will only be eligible after their tumors have been treated with definitive resection and/or radiotherapy and they are neurologically stable for at least 1 month off steroids
* No history of gastrointestinal disease causing malabsorption or obstruction such as but not limited to Crohn's disease, celiac sprue, tropical sprue, bacterial overgrowth/blind loop syndrome, gastric bypass surgery, strictures, adhesions, achalasia, bowel obstruction, or extensive small bowel resection
* Sexually active women of child-bearing potential must agree to use two forms of contraception (hormonal and barrier method of birth control or abstinence) prior to study entry and for the duration of study participation; males should use barrier contraception or abstinence during the study; use of contraception or abstinence should continue for a minimum of 1 month after completion of the study; should a woman become pregnant or suspect she is pregnant while participating in this study, she should discontinue the study drug and inform her treating physician immediately; a pregnancy test is required prior to study enrollment and monthly while on treatment with 1-MT for all women of child-bearing potential; also men should be discouraged from fathering children while on treatment
* Ability to understand and the willingness to sign a written informed consent document

Exclusion Criteria:

* Patients who have had chemotherapy or radiotherapy within 3 weeks (6 weeks for nitrosoureas or mitomycin C) prior to entering the study or those who have not recovered from adverse events due to agents administered more than 3 weeks earlier
* Patients may not receive any other investigational agents or chemotherapy to treat their underlying malignancy while on study; patients who are stable on prior endocrine therapies (i.e. aromatase inhibitors, tamoxifen, and fulvestrant) may stay on these treatments
* Patients with known untreated brain metastases are excluded from this clinical trial; patients with stable previously treated lesions in a patient off steroids and radiation for 1 month are not excluded
* History of allergic reactions (significant urticaria, angioedema, anaphylaxis) attributed to compounds of similar chemical or biologic composition to 1-methyl-D-tryptophan; this would include L-tryptophan or 5-hydroxy-tryptophan supplements
* No supplements containing L-tryptophan or derivatives thereof are allowed to be taken while on study; also ingestion of antacid compounds should be timed a minimum of 2 hours before or after ingestion of 1-MT
* Patients with any active autoimmune disease (i.e. psoriasis, extensive atopic dermatitis, asthma, inflammatory bowel disease (\[IBD), multiple sclerosis (M.S.), uveitis, vasculitis), chronic inflammatory condition, or any condition requiring concurrent use of any systemic immunosuppressants or steroids for any reason would be excluded from the study; any patient with an allo-transplant of any kind would be excluded as well; this would include those with a xenograft heart valve to avoid the potential risk of any immune reaction causing valvular degeneration; mild-intermittent asthma requiring only occasional beta-agonist inhaler use or mild localized eczema will not be excluded
* Uncontrolled concurrent illness including, but not limited to ongoing or active infection, symptomatic congestive heart failure, unstable angina pectoris, myocardial infarction or percutaneous coronary interventions within the last 6 months, cardiac arrhythmia, active autoimmune diseases, or major psychiatric illness/social situations that would limit compliance with study requirements as judged by the primary investigator at each site; those with well controlled, chronic medical conditions under the supervision of the patient's primary physician (i.e. hypertension, hyperlipidemia, coronary heart disease, diabetes mellitus) would not be excluded
* Pregnant women are excluded from this study; breastfeeding should be discontinued if the mother is treated with 1-methyl-D-tryptophan
* Human immunodeficiency virus (HIV)-positive patients and those with other acquired/inherited immunodeficiencies are ineligible
* Patients with more than one active malignancy at the time of enrollment
* Patients who have received any prior experimental active immunotherapy consisting of targeted monoclonal antibodies or pharmaceutical compounds are excluded; prior experimental vaccine patients may be enrolled if approved by the principal investigator (PI); patients who have received commercially available active immunotherapies such as adjuvant interferon must have completed therapy over 1 year prior to enrollment and have no evidence of autoimmune sequelae; prior therapy with approved monoclonal antibodies such as bevacizumab, cetuximab, panitumumab, or trastuzumab is allowed; concurrent treatment with these agents and the study treatment is not allowed
* Human epidermal growth factor receptor 2 positive (HER2+) patients (IHC 3+ and/or fluorescent in situ hybridization \[FISH\] HER2/centromere portion of chromosome 17 \[CEP17\] ratio \> 2) who require treatment with trastuzumab or lapatinib are not eligible for this study