Shared melanoma-associated antigens (Ag) (e.g. MART-1, gp100 and Tyrosinase) expressed among a variety of melanoma patients can be recognized by cytotoxic CD8+ T lymphocytes derived from melanoma patients. T-cell lines which specifically recognize the HLA restricted antigens expressed by tumor cells were generated and used to identify the genes encoding tumor antigens and the peptide epitopes derived therefrom.