DISEASE CHARACTERISTICS:

• Relapsed acute myeloid leukemia or acute lymphoid leukemia after allogeneic peripheral blood stem cell transplantation (PBSCT), documented by 1 of the following:

  • Morphologic relapse defined as 1 or more of the following:

    • Peripheral blasts in absence of growth factor therapy
    • Bone marrow blasts greater than 5% of nucleated cells
    • Extramedullary (CNS, testicular, or other sites)
  • Flow cytometric relapse defined as appearance in peripheral blood or bone marrow of cells with abnormal immunophenotype consistent with leukemia recurrence and noted at pretransplant

  • Cytogenetic relapse defined as:

    • Appearance in 1 or more metaphases from bone marrow or peripheral blood cells of nonconstitutional cytogenetic abnormality noted in at least 1 cytogenetic study performed prior to transplant OR
    • New abnormality known to be associated with leukemia

• Allogeneic PBSCT from related (HLA identical and 1 antigen mismatch) OR unrelated (match) donor

  • Must have achieved complete remission after PBSCT

• Current donor must be same as prior donor

  • Age 10 and over

PATIENT CHARACTERISTICS:

Age:

• Not specified

Performance status:

• SWOG 0-2

Life expectancy:

• At least 3 months

Hematopoietic:

• See Disease Characteristics

Hepatic:

• Bilirubin no greater than 2.0 mg/dL

Renal:

• Creatinine no greater than 2.0 mg/dL

Cardiovascular:

• No congestive heart failure requiring diuretics
• No uncontrolled arrhythmia

Pulmonary:

• No pulmonary dysfunction requiring oxygen therapy
• No pneumonia or severe obstruction
• FEV_1 at least 50% of predicted OR no greater than 50% decline from baseline
• No severe restrictive lung disease (total lung capacity less than 60% or 50% declined from baseline) not due to leukemia

Other:

• No sepsis, aspergillosis, or other active infection

PRIOR CONCURRENT THERAPY:

Biologic therapy:

• See Disease Characteristics

Chemotherapy:

• Not specified

Endocrine therapy:

• Not specified

Radiotherapy:

• Not specified

Surgery:

• Not specified

Other:

• No concurrent cyclosporine or tacrolimus during induction chemotherapy