DISEASE CHARACTERISTICS:

• Diagnosis of hepatocellular carcinoma

  • Stage II-IVA disease

    • No active disease after local or regional therapy (e.g., surgical resection, radiofrequency ablation, cryoablation, or ethanol injection)
• Serum alpha fetoprotein > upper limit of normal
• HLA-A*0201 positive by DNA subtyping

PATIENT CHARACTERISTICS:

Age

• Over 18

Performance status

• Karnofsky 70-100%

Life expectancy

• Not specified

Hematopoietic

• Hemoglobin > 9.0 g/dL (transfusion independent)
• Platelet count > 50,000/mm^3
• Absolute neutrophil count > 1,000/mm^3

Hepatic

• Child Pugh class A or B liver function
• Hepatitis B or C viral infection allowed

Renal

• Not specified

Cardiovascular

• No New York Heart Association class III or IV cardiac insufficiency
• No coronary artery disease

Immunologic

• HIV negative
• No other acute viral, bacterial, or fungal infection requiring therapy
• No allergy to study agents
• No history of opportunistic infection
• No high serum titer of neutralizing anti-adenoviral antibodies
• No congenital or acquired condition resulting in an inability to generate an immune response

Other

• Not pregnant
• Negative pregnancy test
• Fertile patients must use effective double-method (including a barrier method) contraception
• No other condition that would preclude study participation

PRIOR CONCURRENT THERAPY:

Biologic therapy

• Not specified

Chemotherapy

• At least 30 days since prior chemotherapy
• No concurrent cytotoxic chemotherapy

Endocrine therapy

• At least 30 days since prior steroid therapy
• No concurrent steroid therapy, including corticosteroids

Radiotherapy

• Not specified

Surgery

• See Disease Characteristics
• No prior organ allograft

Other

• At least 2 weeks since prior therapy for acute infection
• No concurrent immunosuppressive therapy
• No concurrent cyclosporine