The establishment of melanoma cell lines from fine-needle aspiration biopsies (FNAB) has allowed for an enhanced understanding of the complex interactions that occur between T cells and tumor cells. The technique of FNAB offers the advantage of providing a sequential analysis of the same tumor nodules throughout treatment. The expression of melanoma antigens (MAs) was assessed in fresh melanoma FNAB samples and from tumor cell lines derived from these samples using several different approaches. Cytospin preparations of freshly isolated tumor cell explants were analyzed by immunocytochemistry (ICC), while the daughter cell line was analyzed by fluorescent activated cell sorting (FACS) analysis, and semiquantitative and quantitative reverse transcriptase-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR, qRT-PCR). As assessed by these methods, the level of MA expression by the original tumor cell explants correlated with the expression in established in vitro cell lines. Molecular analysis of the established cell lines utilizing PCR technology improved the sensitivity of detection of MA expression. Thus FNAB of melanoma is an efficient and effective method of tissue procurement, capable of generating, sequentially and from the same lesion, fresh tumor cells, tumor infiltrating lymphocytes (TIL), and long-term melanoma cell lines.