Since a retroviral envelope glycoprotein, gp70, present in sera is prominently involved in the pathogenesis of murine systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE), the detection of gp70-anti-gp70 immune complexes (gp70 IC) is particularly useful for the study of murine SLE. To facilitate the detection of gp70 and gp70 IC, we have developed a simple and sensitive enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA). Using an affinity column coupled with whole mouse serum proteins containing serum gp70 or with Rauscher murine leukaemia virus (MuLV), antibodies specific to serum gp70 or to Rauscher MuLV gp70 were purified from hyperimmune goat anti-Rauscher MuLV gp70 antisera. Only affinity-purified anti-serum gp70 fraction, but not anti-Rauscher MuLV gp70 fraction, was able to detect serum gp70 efficiently in the ELISA, because only a minor fraction of goat anti-Rauscher MuLV gp70 antibodies is cross-reacting with serum gp70. This procedure could be applied to other antigen-antibody systems, in which only antibodies to heterologous cross-reacting antigens are available, to detect free and antibody-complexed antigens in pathological sera.