Alemtuzumab and Glucocorticoids in Treating Newly Diagnosed Acute Graft-Versus-Host Disease in Patients Who Have Undergone a Donor Stem Cell Transplant

DISEASE CHARACTERISTICS: * Newly diagnosed acute graft-versus-host disease (GVHD) * Grade IIB-IV disease * Requires glucocorticoids for treatment of GVHD, as indicated by 1 of the following: * Initial treatment with prednisone or methylprednisolone at 2 mg/kg is indicated (in the judgement of the attending physician) by any of the following: * Severity of GVHD requires hospitalization * GVHD manifestations include symptoms other than anorexia, nausea, and vomiting * GVHD begins within 2-3 weeks after hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (HSCT) * GVHD manifestations progress rapidly from 1 day to the next before treatment * Initial treatment with prednisone or methylprednisolone at 1 mg/kg did not produce adequate clinical improvement within the first 4 days (in the judgement of the attending physician) * Has undergone allogeneic HSCT with myeloablative conditioning * No nonmyeloablative conditioning or autologous HSCT * No primary treatment of acute GVHD with methylprednisolone at any of the following doses: * More than 2 mg/kg/day at any time * 2 mg/kg/day for \> 72 hours * 1 mg/kg/day for \> 96 hours * No presence of distinctive or diagnostic manifestations of chronic GVHD * No relapsed, refractory, or secondary malignancy PATIENT CHARACTERISTICS: * Karnofsky performance status (PS) 20-100% OR Lanksy PS 20-100% * Life expectancy ≥ 1 month * Absolute neutrophil count ≥ 500/mm\^3 * Negative pregnancy test * No Mini Mental State Exam sc…