Dacarbazine and Recombinant Interferon Alfa-2b in Treating Patients With Primary Uveal Melanoma With Genetic Imbalance

Inclusion

* Patients must have a diagnosis, either cytologic or histologic, of melanoma of the iris, ciliary body and/or choroid
* Patient's tumor must exhibit monosomy 3 and/or 8q amplification as determined by karyotype, comparative genomic hybridization (CGH), polymerase chain reaction (PCR)-based microsatellite, and/or Fluorescence in situ Hybridization (FISH) analysis; tissue or cells for analysis can be obtained at enucleation, resection, or by fine needle aspirate (FNA).
* Patients must have undergone adequate primary therapy; this can include enucleation, brachytherapy, proton beam radiotherapy, stereotactic irradiation, trans-scleral local resection, transretinal resection or diode laser thermotherapy
* Patients must have had chest X-ray and hepatic ultrasound or other imaging methods such as CT or MRI to eliminate distant disease
* Patients must have a performance status (ECOG) of \< 2
* Patients must be entered within 56 days of completing primary therapy
* White blood count (WBC) ≥ 3.0 x 10\^9/L
* Neutrophils ≥ 1.5 x 10\^9/L
* Platelets ≥ 100 x 10\^9/L
* international normalized ratio (INR) and partial thromboplastin time (PTT) \< 1.5 x upper limit of normal
* Hemoglobin ≥ 10 gm/100 ml
* Creatinine ≤ 2 mg/dl
* Bilirubin (total) ≤ 1.5 mg/dl
* Alanine transaminase (ALT) ≤ 1.5 x upper limit of normal
* Alkaline phosphatase ≤ 1.5 x upper limit of normal
* Aspartate aminotransferase (AST) ≤ 1.5 x upper limit of normal
* Patients must not have received any other systemic therapy for melanoma
* Women of child-bearing potential and men must agree to use adequate contraception (hormonal or barrier method of birth control) prior to study entry and for the duration of study participation; should a woman become pregnant or suspect she is pregnant while participating in this study, she should inform her treating physician immediately
* All patients must be informed of the investigational nature of this study and must provide written informed consent in accordance with institutional and federal guidelines; a copy of the informed consent document signed by the patient must be given to the patient

Exclusion

* Patients with metastasis
* Patients that are pregnant or breastfeeding
* Patients may not be receiving any other investigational agents
* Patients with a history of immunodeficiency or autoimmune diseases are not eligible; patients requiring therapy with corticosteroids or other immunosuppressives are not eligible; patients requiring ongoing replacement therapy with physiologic doses of corticosteroids will be eligible.
* Patients with uncontrolled intercurrent illness including, but not limited to ongoing or active infection, symptomatic congestive heart failure, unstable angina pectoris, cardiac arrhythmia, or psychiatric illness/social situations that would limit compliance with study requirements are not eligible
* Patients who are known to be positive for HIV or Hepatitis B Surface Antigen (HepBAg)
* No patient may have had a malignancy other than a malignant melanoma, with the following exceptions: basal or squamous cell carcinomas of the skin; carcinoma in-situ of the uterine cervix; any malignancy treated with curative intent and in complete remission for \> 3 years
* Patients with organ allografts