The cadherins are a family of Ca2+-dependent adhesion molecules that function to mediate cell-cell binding critical to the maintenance of tissue structure and morphogenesis. Cadherins each contain a large extracellular domain at the amino-terminus, which is characterized by a series of five homologous repeats, the most distal of which is thought to be responsible for binding specificity. The relatively short carboxy-terminal, intracellular domain interacts with a variety of cytoplasmic proteins, including β-catenin, to regulate cadherin function. VE-cadherin (for vascular endothelial cadherin, also designated cadherin-5) is localized at intercellular junctions of endothelial cells, where it is thought to play a role in the cohesion and organization of intercellular junctions.
