OBJECTIVES:~Compare the duration of survival in patients with stage IV melanoma with hepatic metastasis treated with interleukin-2 with or without histamine dihydrochloride.~Compare the progression-free survival, response rate, response rate of hepatic tumors, and lack of disease progression in patients treated with these regimens.~Determine the safety of these regimens, in terms of frequency, severity, and causal relationship of adverse events, in these patients.~OUTLINE: This is a randomized, multicenter study. Patients are stratified according to participating center location (North America vs Europe), lactate dehydrogenase (less than ULN vs ULN or greater), and metastatic sites (liver only vs liver and other sites). Patients are randomized to one of two treatment arms.~Arm I: Patients receive interleukin-2 (IL-2) subcutaneously (SC) twice daily on days 1 and 2 of weeks 1 and 3 and days 1-5 of weeks 2 and 4. Patients also receive histamine dihydrochloride SC over 10-30 minutes on days 1-5 of weeks 1-4.~Arm II: Patients receive IL-2 as in arm I. In both arms, treatment repeats every 6 weeks for at least 8 courses in the absence of disease progression or unacceptable toxicity.~Patients are followed every 3 months for 3 years and then every 6 months thereafter.~PROJECTED ACCRUAL: A total of 224 patients (112 per treatment arm) will be accrued for this study.
RATIONALE: Interleukin-2 may stimulate a person's white blood cells to kill tumor cells. Histamine dihydrochloride may help interleukin-2 kill more tumor cells by making tumor cells more sensitive to the drug. It is not yet known if interleukin-2 is more effective with or without histamine dihydrochloride in treating stage IV melanoma that is metastatic to the liver.~PURPOSE: Randomized phase III trial to compare the effectiveness of interleukin-2 with or without histamine dihydrochloride in treating patients who have stage IV melanoma that is metastatic to the liver.