'I've never been this good' – revolutionary immune reset puts lupus in remission

An experimental treatment that resets a malfunctioning immune system has put the disease lupus into remission in early UK trials.

Experts say the approach could potentially treat similar disorders including multiple sclerosis and rheumatoid arthritis.

One of the first patients, Katie Tinkler, said she had "never been this good" since being diagnosed 30 years ago.

She once struggled to walk with her children, but can now ski and is off all lupus medication. The disease, which affects around 50,000 in the UK, sees the immune system attack the body.

Women make up 90% of people with lupus in the UK and tend to be diagnosed as young adults.

When the immune system attacks the body, it causes joint pain, skin conditions and damage to organs including the kidneys.

Katie was diagnosed in 1993 when she was 20. She refused to let the condition take over her life and even worked as a fitness instructor, but always had a packet of steroids tucked away in case of a flare up.

When I met her in her kitchen in Surrey, glitterball dangling from the ceiling, she told me flare ups in her hands left her struggling to lift a cup of tea and she would need to take drugs 45 minutes before getting out of bed in the morning, otherwise it would be too painful.

The disease became much more aggressive in the past decade, which has been "pretty horrendous" and Katie needed long spells in hospital. Her lupus was damaging her heart, lungs and kidneys, leaving her on the cusp of needing dialysis.

"Lupus at its worst was in bed, unable to move, going downhill rapidly, possibly dying…now I'm living," she told me.

But speaking to Katie, a year-and-a-half after her experimental treatment, she has the energy and zest for life of a woman reborn.

"It's amazing. I'm living like a normal person, I'm literally saying yes to anything. I sort of forgot that you could feel this good," she said.

The difference is an experimental treatment Katie had to reset her immune system at University College London Hospitals.

It works by engineering a civil war within the immune system – to get one part to destroy the part causing disease.

Two types of white blood cells are involved - the B cells and T cells which normally protect the body from infection.

But in lupus, and other autoimmune diseases, the B cells go rogue and produce antibodies that can attack the body.

So scientists took millions of Katie's own T cells and genetically modified them in the laboratory. Their targeting mechanism was changed so now they attack B cells and these are put back in the body.

Once inside, the T-cells destroy both the rogue and healthy B cells. But months later new healthy B cells grow – effectively resetting the immune system.

There were no guarantees it would work and Katie remembers a letter to her GP explaining "she knows she might die" because of the risks involved.