Naoya Asai

TL;DR: It is demonstrated that physiological responses to GDNF require the presence of a novel glycosyl-phosphatidylinositol (GPI)-linked protein (designated GDNFR-α) that is expressed on GDNF-responsive cells and binds GDNF with a high affinity, which supports the hypothesis that GDNF uses a multi-subunit receptor system in which GDN FR-α and Ret function as the ligand-binding and signalling components.

TL;DR: These findings identify Ret and NTNR-α as signalling and ligand-binding components, respectively, of a receptor for NTN and define a novel family of receptors for neurotrophic and differentiation factors composed of a shared transmembrane protein tyrosine kinase and a lig and-specific GPI-linked protein.

TL;DR: This work identifies an Akt substrate, designated Girdin/APE (Akt-phosphorylation enhancer), which is an actin binding protein, which plays a crucial role in the formation of stress fibers and lamellipodia.

TL;DR: This result demonstrated that transport of the Ret protein to the plasma membrane is required for its transforming activity, and indicated that MEN 2A mutations induced ligand-independent dimerization of the c-Ret protein on the cell surface, leading to activation of its intrinsic tyrosine kinase.

TL;DR: Etv4 and Etv5 are key components of a gene network downstream of Ret that promotes and controls renal branching morphogenesis, and several genes whose expression in the ureteric bud depends on them are identified.