SUMMARYSpecific antibodies present in the sera of patients with bullous pemphigoid or pemphigus vulgaris were detected in an enzyme‐linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) employing a squamous carcinoma cell line, SCaBER, as substrate. Bullous pemphigoid sera bound preferentially to permeabilized cells, suggesting that the antigens are largely intracellular. The assay may prove to be a useful addition to current methods of detecting circulating antibodies in these patient