Vaccine Therapy in Treating Patients With Stage II Melanoma That Can Be Removed by Surgery

DISEASE CHARACTERISTICS: Histologically proven stage IIA or stage IIB resectable cutaneous melanoma rendered disease free Clinically uninvolved lymph nodes by physical examination OR Pathologically uninvolved lymph nodes or sentinel lymph nodes after either complete node dissection or selective lymphadenectomy, respectively No evidence of metastatic disease within 28 days prior to definitive surgery HLA-A2 positive

PATIENT CHARACTERISTICS: Age: 18 and over Performance status: ECOG 0-1 Hematopoietic: No coagulation disorders No significant hematologic abnormality Hepatic: Bilirubin no greater than 2.0 mg/dL No significant liver abnormality Renal: Creatinine no greater than 2.0 mg/dL No significant kidney abnormality Cardiovascular: No major medical illness of the cardiovascular system Pulmonary: No major medical illness of the respiratory system Other: No known allergic reaction to Montanide ISA-51 or sargramostim (GM-CSF) No major systemic infections Not pregnant or nursing HIV negative Hepatitis B surface antigen negative Hepatitis C antibody negative No prior uveitis or autoimmune inflammatory eye disease No active autoimmune disease No other malignancy within past 5 years

PRIOR CONCURRENT THERAPY: At least 1 month since prior adjuvant therapy or any other therapy for cancer Biologic therapy: Not specified Chemotherapy: Not specified Endocrine therapy: No concurrent steroid therapy Radiotherapy: At least 1 month since prior radiotherapy Surgery: See Disease Characteristics