Cadherins are calcium-dependent cell adhesion proteins that preferentially interact with themselves in a homophilic manner in adjacent cells. VE-Cadherin, or Cadherin-5 plays an important role in endothelial cell biology through control of the cohesion and organization of the intercellular junctions. It associates with alpha-catenin forming a link to the cytoskeleton and acts in concert with KRIT1 and MPP5 to establish and maintain correct endothelial cell polarity and vascular lumen. [taken from the Universal Protein Resource (UniProt) www.uniprot.org/uniprot/P33151].