New Vaccine-Immunotherapy combo targets multiple cancers in early trial

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

Inclusion Criteria: * Since p53 mutations occur in a wide variety of tumor types, this is a mixed histology study for incurable tumors; subjects with the following solid tumors are eligible for screening: non-small cell lung cancer, squamous cell carcinoma of the head and neck, hepatocellular carcinoma, renal cell carcinoma, melanoma, bladder, soft tissue sarcoma, triple-negative breast cancer, and colorectal carcinoma displaying microsatellite instability and pancreatic cancer * Advanced (unresectable) solid tumors: patients must have failed or been intolerant to at least one line of standard therapy or refuse standard treatment * Performance status: patients must have an Eastern Cooperative Oncology Group (ECOG) =\< 2 (Karnofsky \>= 60%) * Informed consent: all subjects must have the ability to understand and the willingness to sign an Institutional Review Board (IRB) approved consent form * Absolute neutrophil count: \>= 1,500/ul * Platelets \>= 100,000/ul * Hemoglobin level: must be greater than 9 g/dL * Renal function: calculated or measured creatinine clearance \>= 50 ml/min and/or serum creatinine =\< 1.6 mg/dl * Total bilirubin =\< 1.5 x institutional upper limit of normal * Aspartate aminotransferase (AST) and alanine aminotransferase (ALT) =\< 3 times institutional upper normal level (AST and ALT =\< 5 times institutional upper normal level, if there is evidence of liver metastasis) * Confirmed p53 involvement: patients with p53 over-expression by immunohistochemistry (\>= 10% of cells within the tumor staining positive) or those with a p53 mutation as determined by mutational analysis of tumor tissue will be eligible; patients with prior exposure to p53-based vaccines will be eligible * Agreement to use adequate contraception: women of child-bearing potential must use contraception prior to study entry and for six months after study participation; men that are sexually active whose partners are women of childbearing age must use condoms Exclusion Criteria: * Patients may not be receiving any additional investigational agents or radiation therapy * Pregnancy: pregnant women are excluded from this study; should a woman become pregnant or suspect that she is pregnant while participating on the trial, she should inform her treating physician immediately; women who are pregnant or breastfeeding are excluded * Patients with known brain metastasis * Radiotherapy within 4 weeks prior to entering the study * Patients with previous exposure to anti-programmed cell death (PD)-1 or anti-programmed cell death ligand 1 (PDL-1) will not be eligible * History of allergy to egg proteins * Patients who have not recovered from adverse events due to agents administered more than 4 weeks earlier * Concurrent use of systemic corticosteroids (nasal corticosteroids, inhaled steroids, adrenal replacement steroids, and topical steroids are allowed) * History of immunodeficiency or autoimmune disease: patients with a history of immunodeficiency, including organ grafts and human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), will not be eligible * Patients with a history of autoimmune disease will also be excluded, specifically those with any active autoimmune disease or a condition that requires systemic corticosteroids; exceptions to this are subjects with vitiligo and type I diabetes mellitus, who will be permitted to enroll * Patients with a history of severe immune-mediated adverse reactions with ipilimumab: this will be defined as any grade 4 toxicity requiring treatment with corticosteroids (greater than 10 mg/day prednisone or equivalent dose) for greater than 12 weeks * Patients with a history of cardiac disease are excluded; baseline electrocardiography and assessment of serum troponin (I) are included the screening exams; subjects in whom these assays are abnormal (electrocardiogram \[EKG\] excluding 1st degree bundle branch block, sinus bradycardia, sinus tachycardia or non-specific T wave changes, serum troponin \>= grade 2) are ineligible * Non-compliance: if it is the opinion of the investigator that a subject may be unable to comply with the safety monitoring requirements of the study, they will be excluded