Cancer vaccine trial tests immune system boost for rare lymphoma

Copied word for word from the study's registry entry, so the wording is the study team's rather than ours.

Inclusion Criteria: * Tissue diagnosis of lymphoplasmacytic lymphoma with surface immunoglobulin G (IgG), immunoglobulin A (IgA) or immunoglobulin M (IgM) phenotype with a monoclonal heavy and light chain as determined by flow cytometry; all primary diagnostic lymph node and/or bone marrow biopsies will be reviewed at the University of Texas M.D. Anderson Cancer Center (UTMDACC) * Previously untreated patients with lymphoplasmacytic lymphoma (of any subtype: IgG, IgA, IgM) in the asymptomatic phase * Patients must provide a lymph node sample of at least 1.5 cm in the long axis, or a bone marrow aspiration sample providing at least 5 million cluster of differentiation (CD)20 and/or CD38+ (approximately 10 ml) * Eastern Cooperative Oncology Group (ECOG) performance status of 0 or 1 * Serum creatinine =\< 1.5 mg/dl and a creatinine clearance \>= 30 ml/min * Total bilirubin =\< 1.5 mg/dl unless felt secondary to Gilbert's disease * Aspartate aminotransferase (AST)/alanine aminotransferase (ALT) =\< 2 x upper limit of normal * Ability to provide informed consent, and to return to clinic for adequate follow-up for the period that the protocol requires * Female subject is either post-menopausal or surgically sterilized or willing to use an acceptable method of birth control (i.e., a hormonal contraceptive, intra-uterine device, diaphragm with spermicide, condom with spermicide, or abstinence) for the duration of the study and for 30 days after the last vaccination has been administered * Male subject agrees to use an acceptable method for contraception for the duration of the study Exclusion Criteria: * Human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), hepatitis B and/or hepatitis C infection * Pregnancy or lactating females * Patients with previous history of malignancy within the last 5 years except curatively treated squamous or basal cell carcinoma of the skin or curatively treated carcinoma in-situ of other organs * Any medical or psychiatric condition that in the opinion of the principal investigator would compromise the patient's ability to tolerate this treatment * Patients with New York Heart Association class 3 or 4 disease * Patients with a history of autoimmune diseases except for Hashimoto's thyroiditis * Patients with positive antinuclear antibody (ANA) and/or anti-double strand (ds) DNA antibodies