DISEASE CHARACTERISTICS:

• Diagnosis of melanoma, meeting both of the following criteria:

  • Metastatic disease
  • Refractory to standard treatment (including high-dose aldesleukin)
• Measurable disease
• HLA-A*0201 positive
• Autologous cells unsuitable for IRB approved Surgery Branch adoptive cell therapy studies
• No positive allo-specific reactivity of the DMF5 cells to the patient's peripheral blood mononuclear cells
• No symptomatic CNS lesions (may be eligible after treatment of symptomatic lesions)

PATIENT CHARACTERISTICS:

• ECOG performance status 0-1
• Life expectancy > 3 months
• ANC > 1,000/mm³ (without filgrastim [G-CSF] support)
• WBC < 3,000/mm³
• Hemoglobin > 8.0 g/dL
• Platelet count > 100,000/mm³
• ALT and AST < 3 times upper limit of normal
• Total bilirubin ≤ 2.0 mg/dL (≤ 3.0 mg/dL in patients with Gilbert syndrome)
• Creatinine ≤ 1.6 mg/dL
• HIV negative
• Hepatitis B antigen negative
• Hepatitis C antibody or antigen negative
• Not pregnant or nursing
• Negative pregnancy test
• Fertile patients must use effective contraception during and for 4 months after receiving the preparative regimen
• No active systemic or opportunistic infections
• No coagulation disorders
• LVEF > 45% by ECHO or MUGA scan (required for patients ≥ 60 years OR who have a cardiac abnormality)
• FEV_1 > 60% of predicted (for patients with a prolonged history of cigarette smoking [i.e., more than 20 pack years] or symptoms of respiratory dysfunction)

• No other major medical illness of the cardiovascular, respiratory, or immune system as evidenced by any of the following:

  • Myocardial infarction or cardiac arrhythmias
  • History of coronary revascularization or ischemic symptoms
  • History of clinically significant atrial and/or ventricular arrhythmias including, but not limited to, atrial fibrillation, ventricular tachycardia, or heart block
  • Respiratory disease
  • Obstructive or restrictive pulmonary disease
  • Primary immunodeficiency or immune system disease (i.e., severe combined immunodeficiency disease)
• No history of severe immediate hypersensitivity reaction to any of the agents used in this study
• No allergy to penicillin

PRIOR CONCURRENT THERAPY:

• See Disease Characteristics

• More than 4 weeks since prior systemic therapy and recovered

  • Toxicity ≤ grade 1 (except for alopecia or vitiligo)

• More than 6 weeks since prior ipilimumab (MDX-010)

  • Patients who received prior MDX-010 must have a normal colonoscopy (colonic biopsies normal)
• No concurrent systemic steroid therapy