DISEASE CHARACTERISTICS:

• Diagnosis of chronic myelogenous leukemia

  • Chronic phase disease
  • Philadelphia chromosome positive disease

• Disease in first complete hematologic response, defined by all of the following:

  • Complete normalization of peripheral blood counts with WBC < 10,000/mm^3
  • Platelet count < 450,000/mm^3
  • No immature cells (e.g., myelocytes, metamyelocytes, or blasts) in the peripheral blood

• Persistent molecular evidence of disease

  • Detectable BCR-ABL transcript by quantitative polymerase chain reaction
  • Less than 2 log reduction in peripheral blood or bone marrow BCR-ABL transcripts levels compared to a standardized baseline
• Must have received imatinib mesylate for > 1 year of which the last 3 months were at stable dose ≥ 300 mg/day

PATIENT CHARACTERISTICS:

• Not pregnant or nursing
• Fertile patients must use effective contraception
• Negative pregnancy test
• No known HIV
• ALT or AST ≤ 3 times upper limit of normal
• Oxygen saturation ≥ 93% at room air
• No history of recent acute myocardial infarction
• No history of unstable angina
• No pulmonary decomposition requiring hospitalization within the past 3 months
• No concurrent and/or uncontrolled psychiatric or medical condition that would preclude study compliance

PRIOR CONCURRENT THERAPY:

• See Disease Characteristics
• No prior allogeneic stem cell transplantation
• At least 2 months since other prior experimental therapy
• At least 6 months since prior participation in another vaccine study
• No concurrent systemic immunosuppressive medication