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Background/Aims Patient and public involvement (PPI) initiatives are important to ensure patient-centered research. However, traditional focus groups can present challenges including the recruitment and retention of patient partners. Additional challenges to patient involvement have also arisen due to the coronavirus pandemic (COVID-19). The University College London (UCL) Patient Partners in Rheumatology Research initiative has been developed to explore novel ways to boost patient involvement and foster an active collaboration between basic researchers and patient partners. Methods Two online surveys were designed to obtain information with regards to the expectations and practicalities of this initiative. One survey was sent to patients who had registered an interest in being patient partners and the other survey to rheumatology researchers at UCL and University College London Hospital (UCLH). Results We received responses from 25 researchers and 21 patients. The majority of patients who responded (71%) had not previously been involved in PPI. Most of the researchers (84%) had previously utilised PPI, however 20% of those had some difficulty accessing it. Most patients (86%) were interested in becoming a patient partner. Amongst those with reservations, one stated that “I don't think I have the qualifications to be involved with scientists and researchers”. Over half of patients (52%) were happy to participate in PPI more than five times a year and most researchers (84%) expressed that five times a year was acceptable. Patients favoured (52%) conducting PPI meetings after office hours (5-8pm) during the working week. Due to social restrictions because of COVID-19, we asked both patients and researchers their preferred mode of meeting. Both groups favoured a mixed (virtual and face to face) meeting arrangement (81% for patients and 68% for researchers). A third of patients (38%) expressed that they would need technical assistance accessing a virtual meeting. Almost all patients (95%) were happy to contribute to lay summary reviews remotely via email. Conclusion Based on the insights gained from the survey results, our PPI initiative meetings will be hosted in a hybrid virtual/face to face format. These will be held at a time and frequency that is convenient for the patient partners to increase participation across wider demographics. This survey has highlighted that we have to be mindful of certain patient perceptions of PPI which creates a barrier to patient involvement and that some individuals may require further support in accessing virtual meetings. By designing a PPI initiative that creatively addressed the needs of both the researchers and patient partners we hope to create a platform for productive dialogue and collaboration to ensure patient-centred research, despite the changes brought about by the COVID-19 pandemic. Disclosure E. Hawkins: Other; funded by National Institute of Health Research, Clinical Research Network. T. Hyndman: None. R. Amarnani: None. J. Kimpton: None. S. Yeoh: Other; University College London Hospital National Institute of Health Research Biomedical Research Centre, UCLH Charities, Royal College of Physicians and Rosetrees Trust. M. Castelino: Other; University College London Hospitals National Institute for Health Research Biomedical Research Centre.

Background/Aims Rheumatologists are facing a significant challenge in the management of early rheumatoid arthritis (RA) due to limitations placed on outpatient visits during the COVID-19 pandemic. Frequent clinical assessments of disease activity are recommended during implementation of the treat to target strategy to achieve remission. A biomarker indicating response to methotrexate during the early phase of therapy could complement clinical examination. Methotrexate increases erythrocyte mean corpuscular volume (MCV), which is measured routinely, prompting us to investigate whether changes in MCV could act as an early indicator of response. Methods Patients with early RA who were started on methotrexate therapy were included from two independent cohorts. The larger cohort (discovery cohort, n = 655) was used to build the model and the second cohort (validation cohort, n = 225) was applied to test the prediction of the model. Conventional statistical, and machine learning approaches were adopted to identify key determinants that influence the potential relationship between MCV and clinical response, defined as attainment of remission or low disease activity, at six months after starting methotrexate. Results A LASSO penalised logistic regression model was built with the discovery cohort [area under the receiver operating characteristics (AUROC) curve = 0.76], where change of MCV from three months [Odds ratio (OR) 1.53 (95% CI 1.38-1.70)], concomitant use of hydroxychloroquine [OR 2.16 (95% CI 1.52 - 3.07, p < 0.001)], and seropositivity [OR 1.83 (95% CI 1.12 - 3.03, p = 0.02)] were associated with favourable methotrexate response [accuracy 81% (95% CI 76%-86%) of the model testing against discovery model]. Different machine learning classification methods were applied. Random forest exhibited the maximum accuracy and AUROC (89%, and 86%, respectively), confirming the above three predictors as the most significant. Two latent classes (class 1: smaller MCV increase and class 2: greater MCV increase) were identified based on the MCV changes over six months. Class 1 had fewer responders and a lower number of patients on hydroxychloroquine compared to class 2. The earliest time point of significant difference of MCV between responders and non-responders was three months [mean difference 1.43 (95% CI 0.57-2.3)]. Combination hydroxychloroquine and methotrexate caused the greatest increase in MCV with a difference between responders and non-responders at 2 months. Change of MCV at three months showed AUROC of 0.75 to predict treatment response to the combination of methotrexate and hydroxychloroquine at six months with an optimal cut-point of MCV 3.5 fL (95% CI 3.5-3.6) with 71% sensitivity and 75%, specificity. Conclusion Our data provides mechanistic insight into the synergistic clinical benefit of concomitant hydroxychloroquine with methotrexate, boosting the rise in erythrocyte MCV which could serve as an early biomarker of treatment response. Disclosure M.R. Shipa: Grants/research support; Versus arthritis. S. Yeoh: Grants/research support; Royal College of Physicians, Rosetrees Trust, NIHR University College London Hospitals Biomedical Research Centre, UCLH Charities. A. Embleton-Thirsk: None. D. Mukerjee: None. M.R. Ehrenstein: Grants/research support; University College London Hospital Biomedical Research Centre.