Common human cancers have been found to be asociated with mutations in dominant and recessive oncogenes including the ras and p53 genes and frequently produce mutant oncogene proteins that are uniquely present in the patient's cancer but not in their normal cells. These tumor specific proteins could form the basis for immunotherapy. This study is proposed to test for immune responses against these tumor specific oncoproteins and to vaccinate cancer patients with synthetic peptide(s) corresponding to the mutant ras or p53 oncoprotein(s) found in their individual tumors. This purposes of this study are: 1) to determine whether cellular or humoral immunity specific to an individual patient's tumor mutant ras or p53 oncogene products exists, 2) to determine whether such immunity can be induced or boosted by vacination with a synthetic peptide specific to the mutation in ras or p53 present in a patient's tumor, 3) to assess toxicity from such vaccination, and 4) to determine tumor response following such vaccination.
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