Vaccine Therapy With Sargramostim (GM-CSF) in Treating Patients With Her-2 Positive Stage III-IV Breast Cancer or Ovarian Cancer

RATIONALE: Vaccines may help the body build an effective immune response to kill tumor cells. Colony-stimulating factors, such as GM-CSF, may increase the number of immune cells found in bone marrow or peripheral blood. Giving vaccine therapy together with sargramostim may be an effective treatment for breast cancer and ovarian cancer. PURPOSE: This phase I trial is studying the side effects and identifying the best dose of vaccine therapy when given together with sargramostim in treating patients with stage III-IV breast cancer or ovarian cancer. PRIMARY OBJECTIVES: I. To determine the safety of intradermal administration of 3 doses of a plasmid-based DNA vaccine encoding the ICD of HER2 administered with a fixed dose of GM-CSF. II. To determine whether a plasmid DNA vaccine encoding the ICD of HER2 can elicit HER2 specific immune responses. SECONDARY OBJECTIVES: I. To determine if the dose of the plasmid-based DNA vaccine effects immunologic responses. II. To determine the persistence of DNA at the site of vaccination. OUTLINE: This is a dose-escalation study of a plasmid-based DNA (pNGVL3-hICD) vaccine. Patients receive pNGVL3-hICD vaccine admixed with GM-CSF intradermally once a month for 3 months in the absence of disease progression or unacceptable toxicity. After completion of study treatment, patients are followed up periodically for up to 15 years with primary physicians.