Many melanoma-associated antigens have been identified by monoclonal antibodies. One of these monoclonal antibodies, O1-94-45, binds only to melanomas, nevus cells, some astrocytomas, and fetal epitheloid cells. There are approximately 100,000 cell surface antigens per melanoma cell with an association constant of 3 X 10(8) M-1. The antigen is efficiently extracted from the membrane only in the presence of detergent and is, therefore, bound by hydrophobic forces. However, it is also shed into the culture supernatant during normal cell growth. The two components of the O1-95-45 antigen are a chondroitin sulfate proteoglycan (CSP, greater than 500,000 Da) and a glycoprotein gp260 (260,000 Da, pI 6.9). CSP contains chondroitin sulfate and N-linked and O-linked oligosaccharides. Only N-linked saccharides were associated with gp260. The antigenic site is expressed on both components and is heat-sensitive. Since the CSP was converted to gp260 by chondroitinase, the protein cores of the two molecules are the same or similar. For more detailed study the O1-95-45 antigen was purified by immunoaffinity chromatography. The amino acid composition of the purified antigen was relatively polar with an unusually high Leu content and low Lys content. Initial attempts to sequence the antigen were unsuccessful probably due to a blocked N-terminus. CSP and gp260 were partially separated by gel filtration chromatography, and both were found to carry the O1-95-45 antigenic determinant. Three other monoclonal antibodies were found to bind the purified antigen at a site or sites different from the O1-95-45 epitope and one other monoclonal antibody may bind at the same site. Two of these antibodies were used for a double determinant immunoassay.