Melanie A. Ruffner, MD, PhD

Medical School

MD - University of Pittsburgh, School of Medicine, Pittsburgh, PA

Internship

Pediatrics - Children's Hospital of Philadelphia, Philadelphia, PA

Residency

Pediatrics - Children's Hospital of Philadelphia, Philadelphia, PA

Fellowship

Allergy & Immunology - Children's Hospital of Philadelphia, Philadelphia, PA
Post-Doctoral Fellow - Children's Hospital of Philadelphia Research Institute, Philadelphia, PA

Board Certification

Allergy and Immunology
Pediatrics

Graduate Degree

PhD in Bioengineering - University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, PA

Papers

2018

Godwin B, Liacouras C, Mehta V, Eisenberg J, Agawu A, Brown-Whitehorn TF, Ruffner MA Verma R, Cianferoni A, Spergel JM, Muir AB: A Review of Tertiary Referrals for Management of Pediatric Esophageal Eosinophilia Frontiers Pediatrics June 2018 Notes: https://doi.org/10.3389/fped.2018.00173.

Ruffner Melanie A, USIDNET Body Weight Group, Sullivan Kathleen E: Complications associated with underweight primary immunodeficiency patients: prevalence and associations within the USIDNET Registry Journal of Clinical Immunology 38(3): 283-293, April 2018.

Fahey Lisa, Guzek Ryan, Ruffner Melanie, Sullivan Kathleen, Spergel Jonathan, Cianferoni Antonella: EMSY is Increased and Activates TSLP & CCL5 Expression in Eosinophilic Esophagitis. Pediatric Allergy and Immunology April 2018.

Cianferoni Antonella, Ruffner Melanie A, Guzek Ryan, Guan Shabao, Brown-Whitehorn Terri, Spergel Jonathan M: Activated Th2 cells and milk-specific Th2 cells are increased in milk-induced eosinophilic esophagitis. Annals of Allergy, Asthma & Immunology 120(2): 177-183.e2, February 2018. PMCID: PMC5875940

Crowley Terrence B, Ruffner Melanie A, McDonald-McGinn Donna M, Sullivan Kathleen E: Variable immune deficiency related to deletion size in chromosome 22q11.2 deletion syndrome. American Journal of Medical Genetics, Part A January 2018 Notes: https://doi.org/10.1002/ajmg.a.38597.

2017

Ruffner MA, Aksamit TR, Thomashow B, Choate R, DiMango A, Turino GM, O'Donnell AE, Johnson MM, Olivier KN, Fennelly K, Daley CL, Winthrop KL, Metersky ML, Salathe MA, Knowles MR, Daniels MLA, Noone PG, Tino G, Griffith DE, Sullivan KE.: Frequency of untreated hypogammaglobulinemia in bronchiectasis. Ann Allergy Asthma Immunol May 2017.

Ruffner Melanie A, Brown-Whitehorn Terri F, Verma Ritu, Cianferoni Antonella, Gober Laura, Shuker Michele, Muir Amanda B, Liacouras Chris A, Spergel Jonathan M: Clinical tolerance in eosinophilic esophagitis. The Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology: In Practice 6(2): 661-3, March 2017.

2013

Ruffner Melanie A, Ruymann Kathryn, Barni Simona, Cianferoni Antonella, Brown-Whitehorn Terri, Spergel Jonathan M: Food protein-induced enterocolitis syndrome: insights from review of a large referral population. The Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology. In practice 1(4): 343-9, Jul-Aug 2013.

2012

Yang Chenjie, Ruffner Melanie A, Kim Seon-Hee, Robbins Paul D: Plasma-derived MHC class II+ exosomes from tumor-bearing mice suppress tumor antigen-specific immune responses. European journal of immunology 42(7): 1778-84, Jul 2012. PMCID: PMC3471134

2011

Ruffner Melanie A, Finegold David N, MacGinnitie Andrew J: Infant with unusual food reactions. Acta paediatrica (Oslo, Norway : 1992) 100(10): 1289, 1394-5, Oct 2011.

2010

Ruffner Melanie A, Robbins Paul D: Dendritic cells transduced to express interleukin 4 reduce diabetes onset in both normoglycemic and prediabetic nonobese diabetic mice. PloS one 5(7): e11848, Jul 2010. PMCID: PMC2912295

2009

Ruffner Melanie A, Kim Seon Hee, Bianco Nicole R, Francisco Loise M, Sharpe Arlene H, Robbins Paul D: B7-1/2, but not PD-L1/2 molecules, are required on IL-10-treated tolerogenic DC and DC-derived exosomes for in vivo function. European journal of immunology 39(11): 3084-90, Nov 2009. PMCID: PMC3075967

Bianco Nicole R, Kim Seon Hee, Ruffner Melanie A, Robbins Paul D: Therapeutic effect of exosomes from indoleamine 2,3-dioxygenase-positive dendritic cells in collagen-induced arthritis and delayed-type hypersensitivity disease models. Arthritis and rheumatism 60(2): 380-9, Feb 2009. PMCID: PMC3491653

2003

Kim T-K, Sharma B, Williams C G, Ruffner M A, Malik A, McFarland E G, Elisseeff J H: Experimental model for cartilage tissue engineering to regenerate the zonal organization of articular cartilage. Osteoarthritis and cartilage 11(9): 653-64, Sep 2003.

Abstracts

2018

Ruffner MA, Crowley TB, McDonald-McGinn DM, Sullivan KE: Chromosome 22q11.2 Deletion Size Affects Peripheral Lymphocyte Subset Counts. Clinical Immunology Society Annual Meeting April 2018.

Ruffner MA, Garabedian EK, Fuleihan RL, Sullivan KE, Spergel JM: Eosinophilic Gastrointestinal Disease in Patients with Primary Immunodeficiency American Academy of Allergy, Asthma and Immunodeficiency Annual Meeting March 2018.

2017

Ruffner Melanie A, Raman Swathi, Mauer Kelly, Muir Amanda, Spergel Jonathan M, Sullivan Kathleen E: Role of Toll-like receptor signaling in epithelial barrier dysfunction in eosinophilic esophagitis. American College of Allergy, Asthma and Immunology Annual Meeting, Boston, MA October 2017.

Ruffner Melanie A, Brown-Whitehorn Terri F, Verma Ritu, Cianferoni Antonella, Gober Laura, Shuker Michelle, Muir Amanda B, Liacouras Chris A, Spergel Jonathan M: Investigation of complete clinical tolerance in a pediatric eosinophilic esophagitis population. 4th CURED Research Conference, Cincinnati OH October 2017.

2016

Wang, K, Ruffner, M, Brown-Whitehorn, T, Spergel, J: Anaphylaxis to intralipid after bone marrow transplant. Annals of Allergy Asthma & Immunology 117(5 S): S33, Nov 2016.

Books

Chapters

2018

Ruffner MA and Brown-Whitehorn TF: "A 5-month old with vomiting, lethargy, and pallor" Pediatric Allergy and Clinical Immunology. Nima Rezaei (eds.). Springer, 2018.

2010

Ruffner MA, Plevy SE, Cheung AT: "Applications of Nucleotide-based Therapy in the Treatment of Inflammatory Bowel Disease." Gene Therapy for Autoimmune and Inflammatory Diseases Y. Chernajovsky and P. Robbins (eds.). Basel, Switzerland: Birkhäuser Verlag AG, Page: 19-34, 2010.

Gaddy DF, Ruffner MA, and Robbins PD: "Autoimmune disorders" A Guide to Human Gene Therapy. R. Herzog and S. Zolotukhin (eds.). New Jersey, USA: World Scientific, Page: 295-308, 2010.

2006

Elisseeff J, Ruffner MA, Kim TK, Williams CG. : "Cellular Photoencapsulation in Hydrogels" Culture of Cells for Tissue Engineering I. Freshney and G. Vunjak-Novakovic (eds.). New Jersey, USA: John Wiley & Sons, Page: 214-236, 2006.

Posters and Presentations

2017

Lisa Fahey, Ryan Guzek, Melanie A Ruffner, Kathleen Sullivan Jonathan Spergel, Antonella Cianferoni: EMSY Gene Silencing in the Esophageal Epithelium Gastroenterology 152(5): S855, May 2017 Notes: Presented at Digestive Diseases Week Annual Meeting 2017.

Invited Lectures 

2018

Ruffner M A. "Eosinophilic Esophagitis 101: The Allergy Perspective," EoE Patient Education Day, Children's Hospital of Philadelphia

Ruffner M A. "Chromosome 22q11.2 Deletion Size Affects Peripheral Lymphocyte Subset Counts" Clinical Immunology Society 2018 Annual Meeting

2017

Ruffner M A. "Newborn Screening for Severe Combined Immunodeficiency," St. Christopher's Hospital, Immunology Department Teaching Rounds

Ruffner M A. "Pediatric Eosinophilic Esophagitis," Crozer Pediatric Residency Teaching Conference

Ruffner M A. "Outgrowing eosinophilic esophagitis: it is possible," American Academy of Allergy, Asthma and Immunology Annual Meeting

Ruffner M A. "The Eosinophilic Esophagitis Transcriptome is Altered with Therapy," Children's Hospital of Philadelphia "Postdoc Seminar Series - A Focus on Trainee Researchers"

2016

Ruffner M A. "Factors regulating inflammation in eosinophilic esophagitis," Children's Hospital of Pittsburgh Allergy Department Research Seminar

Ruffner M A. "Worsening lung findings in a SCID patient," Clinical Immunology Summer School in Primary Immunodeficiency Diseases

Ruffner M A. "Body weight and infectious outcomes in patients with primary immunodeficiency," American Academy of Allergy, Asthma and Immunology Annual Meeting