OBJECTIVES: I. Assess the toxicity and response rates to sequential high dose chemotherapy without induction chemotherapy in women with metastatic breast cancer. II. Determine the hematopoietic recovery rate in these patients after infusion of blood derived CD34+ progenitors isolated using a CD34+ affinity device for positive purification of the autograft. III. Compare response rates and duration of responses between these patients treated in this trial to patients treated in a previous trial using the same sequential high dose chemotherapy with induction conventional dose chemotherapy.