Vaccine Therapy in Treating Patients With Stage II or Stage III Colon Cancer That Has Been Removed During Surgery

DISEASE CHARACTERISTICS:

Histologically confirmed stage II or III primary adenocarcinoma of the colon

Completely resected within the past 28-35 days, at which time tumor tissue is harvested for vaccine production
No residual or metastatic disease
No more than 1 malignant invasive primary colon cancer
No tumor originating in the rectum (i.e., inferior tumor margin must not be at or below the peritoneal reflection)
No perforated tumors

PATIENT CHARACTERISTICS:

Age:

21 to 85

Performance status:

WHO 0-1

Life expectancy:

Not specified

Hematopoietic:

WBC greater than 4,000/mm^3
Platelet count greater than 100,000/mm^3
Hemoglobin greater than 10.0 g/dL

Hepatic:

Bilirubin normal
SGOT normal
Alkaline phosphatase normal
No severe hepatic disease that would preclude study

Renal:

Creatinine less than 1.5 times upper limit of normal
No severe renal disease that would preclude study

Cardiovascular:

No prosthetic cardiac valves
No recent vascular prosthesis
No postsurgical cardiovascular complication
No severe cardiovascular disease that would preclude study

Pulmonary:

No postsurgical pulmonary complication

Other:

Not pregnant or nursing
Negative pregnancy test
Fertile patients must use effective contraception
No insulin-dependent diabetes mellitus
No severe systemic disease that would preclude study
No congenital or acquired immune deficiency disease
No history of chronic ulcerative colitis, Crohn's disease, Gardner's syndrome, or Turcot's syndrome
No ileus
No other prior malignancy except curatively treated squamous cell or basal cell skin cancer or carcinoma in situ of the cervix
No ongoing infection requiring systemic antibiotics
No severe postoperative complication that would preclude study
Carcinoembryonic antigen normal

PRIOR CONCURRENT THERAPY:

Biologic therapy:

No other concurrent investigational immunotherapy

Chemotherapy:

No prior systemic chemotherapy
No other concurrent investigational chemotherapy

Endocrine therapy:

No concurrent steroids

Radiotherapy:

No prior radiotherapy
No concurrent investigational radiotherapy

Surgery:

See Disease Characteristics
No concurrent investigational surgery

Other:

At least 3 weeks since prior systemic antibiotic therapy of more than 5 days duration (excluding topical antibiotics or perioperative prophylactic antibiotics)
No concurrent cytotoxic immunosuppressive agents