Inclusion Criteria

DISEASE CHARACTERISTICS:

- Cytologically or histologically confirmed diagnosis of 1 of the following:

- Acute myeloid leukemia, meeting the following criteria:

- Documented Wilms tumor-1 (WT-1)-positive disease demonstrated by WT-1
protein on a pretreatment bone marrow biopsy OR detectable disease with
real-time quantitative reverse transcriptase-polymerase chain reaction
(RQ-PCR)

- Completed induction chemotherapy, achieved clinical remission, and
completed postremission therapy OR achieved clinical remission and have no
plans for further postremission chemotherapy (≥ 65 years of age)

- Myelodysplastic syndromes, meeting the following criteria:

- Documented WT-1-positive disease demonstrated by WT-1 protein on a
pretreatment bone marrow biopsy OR detectable disease by RQ-PCR

- International Prognostic Scoring System (IPSS) score of ≥ Int-2

- Not a candidate for cytotoxic chemotherapy

- Non-small cell lung cancer, meeting the following criteria:

- Positive tumor staining for WT-1 in > 10% of cells

- Stage III or IV disease

- Completed chemotherapy, surgery, and/or radiotherapy

- Mesothelioma, meeting the following criteria:

- Positive tumor staining for WT-1 in > 10% of cells

- Unresectable or relapsed disease

- Chemo-naive or received 1 prior chemotherapy regimen

- Malignant pleural mesothelioma or peritoneal mesothelioma

- No leptomeningeal disease

- No CNS involvement

PATIENT CHARACTERISTICS:

- Karnofsky performance status 70-100%

- Absolute neutrophil count ≥ 1,000/mm³

- Platelet count > 50,000/mm³ (except for myelodysplastic syndromes where parameter is
> 20,000/mm³ and not transfusion dependent)

- Bilirubin ≤ 2.0 mg/dL

- AST and ALT ≤ 2.5 times upper limit of normal

- Creatinine ≤ 2.0 mg/dL

- Not pregnant or nursing

- Negative pregnancy test

- Fertile patients must use effective contraception

- No active infection requiring systemic antibiotics, antiviral, or antifungal
treatments

- No serious unstable medical illness

PRIOR CONCURRENT THERAPY:

- See Disease Characteristics

- At least 4 weeks since prior chemotherapy or radiotherapy

- No concurrent systemic corticosteroids