A Vaccine (CDX-1401) With or Without a Biologic Drug (CDX-301) for the Treatment of Patients With Stage IIB-IV Melanoma

PRIMARY OBJECTIVE: I. To determine whether the immune response to NY-ESO-1 elicited by vaccination with DEC-205/NY-ESO-1 fusion protein CDX-1401 (CDX-1401) plus polyinosinic-polycytidylic acid stabilized with poly-L-lysine and carboxymethylcellulose (poly-ICLC) is substantially increased by prior expansion in the number of circulating dendritic cells (DC) by therapy with recombinant Flt3 ligand (CDX-301) (fms-related tyrosine kinase 3 ligand \[Flt3L\]). SECONDARY OBJECTIVES: I. To assess the effect of the vaccine regimen on immune responses to other ongoing and nascent antitumor response antigens associated with melanoma (e.g., PRAME, MAGE-A3, p53, and gp100) as well as memory viral responses (influenza A) and chronic viral responses (cytomegalovirus \[CMV\], Epstein-Barr virus \[EBV\]). II. To assess the effect of the vaccine regimen on the frequency and phenotypic character of peripheral blood mononuclear cell (PBMC) subsets including DCs, monocyte populations, T cells, and natural killer (NK) cells. III. To assess the safety, tolerability, and clinical efficacy of the vaccine regimens. OUTLINE: Patients are randomized to 1 of 2 treatment arms. ARM I: Patients receive recombinant Flt3 ligand (CDX-301) subcutaneously (SC) on days -7 to -1, 1-3, and 22-28 of cycle 1 and only on days 1-3 of cycle 2. Patients also receive CDX-1401 SC or intradermally (ID) on day 1 of each cycle and poly-ICLC SC on days 1-2 of each cycle. Treatment repeats every 28 days for 4 cycles in the absence of disease progression or unacceptable toxicity. ARM II: Patients receive CDX-1401 and poly-ICLC as in Arm I. Treatment repeats every 28 days for 4 cycles in the absence of disease progression or unacceptable toxicity. After completion of study treatment, patients are followed up at 4 and 12 weeks and then annually thereafter.