DISEASE CHARACTERISTICS:

• Histologically confirmed diagnosis of 1 of the following:

  • Breast cancer, meeting 1 of the following stage criteria:

    • Stage III disease

    • Stage IV disease, meeting all of the following criteria:

      • Metastasis in remission
      • Stable or healing bone disease with radiologic evaluation within the past 60 days including, but not limited to, bone scan, MRI, or positron emission tomography scan
      • No evidence of extraskeletal metastasis

  • Ovarian cancer, meeting 1 of the following stage criteria:

    • Stage III disease

    • Stage IV disease, meeting both of the following criteria:

      • In first complete remission
      • Normal and stable CA 125 with 2 sequential normal values taken ≥ 30 days apart, with the most recent value taken within the past 14 days

• HER2-overexpressing disease

  • 3+ by immunohistochemistry (IHC) of the primary tumor or metastasis OR documented HER2 gene amplification by fluorescence in situ hybridization (FISH)
• Completed treatment for primary disease
• Hormone receptor status not specified

PATIENT CHARACTERISTICS:

• Male or female
• Menopausal status not specified
• ECOG performance status (PS) OR Zubrod PS 0
• Hematocrit ≥ 30%
• Platelet count ≥ 100,000/mm³
• WBC ≥ 3,000/mm³
• Creatinine ≤ 2.0 mg/dL OR creatinine clearance ≥ 60 mL/min
• Bilirubin < 1.5 mg/dL
• SGOT < 2 times upper limit of normal
• Antinuclear antibody, anti-double-stranded DNA, and complement C_3 normal
• Recovered from major infections
• No serious medical condition or illness that, in the opinion of the investigator, would preclude study participation or survival
• No contraindication to receiving sargramostim (GM-CSF)-based vaccine products

• No known history of cardiac disease

  • LVEF normal by MUGA or echocardiogram AND no decrease > 15% in subsequent MUGA (on or off trastuzumab)
  • No acute changes on ECG consistent with active ischemia or uncontrolled arrhythmia (off trastuzumab)
• No known history of pulmonary disease other than controlled asthma
• No active autoimmune disease
• No active immunodeficiency disorder (e.g., HIV)
• Not pregnant or nursing
• Negative pregnancy test
• Fertile male patients must use effective contraception

• Female patients must be unable to bear children as a result of 1 of the following:

  • Permanent sterilization (e.g., tubal ligation)
  • Menopausal effects of chemotherapy
  • Natural menopausal effects
  • Surgery

PRIOR CONCURRENT THERAPY:

• See Disease Characteristics
• Recovered from prior surgical procedures
• More than 1 month since prior cytotoxic chemotherapy or corticosteroids
• No concurrent enrollment on other treatment clinical trials
• No concurrent chemotherapy, steroids, or other immune modulators
• Concurrent hormonal and bisphosphonate therapy allowed
• Concurrent trastuzumab (Herceptin®) monotherapy allowed