The vascular endothelial cadherin (VE-cad)-based complex is involved in the maintenance of vascular endothelium integrity. Using immunoprecipitation experiments, we have demonstrated that, in confluent human umbilical vein endothelial cells, the VE-cad-based complex interacts with annexin 2 and that annexin 2 translocates from the cytoplasm to the cell-cell contact sites as cell confluence is established. Annexin 2, located in cholesterol rafts, binds to both the actin cytoskeleton and the VE-cad-based complex so the complex is docked to cholesterol rafts. These multiple connections prevent the lateral diffusion of the VE-cad-based complex, thus strengthening adherens junctions in the ultimate steps of maturation. Moreover, we observed that the down-regulation of annexin 2 by small interfering RNA induces a delocalization of VE-cad from adherens junctions and consequently a destabilization of these junctions. Furthermore, our data indicate that the decoupling of the annexin 2/p11 complex from the VE-cad-based junction, triggered by vascular endothelial growth factor treatment, facilitates the switch from a quiescent to an immature state.Vascular endothelium consists of a monolayer of endothelial cells which lines the whole vascular tree. It forms an active boundary between the bloodstream and the underlying tissues, thus controlling the movement of circulating white cells between blood and inflamed tissues. The endothelium is also at the origin of the extension of preexisting vasculature through formation of neo-vessels, a process named angiogenesis (43). Adherens and tight junctions which hold together endothelial cells modulate leukocyte traffic and angiogenesis. Without diminishing the importance of tight junctions, adherens junctions are particularly crucial in controlling the formation and maintenance of interendothelial adhesion.Endothelial cells express a cell-specific cadherin designated vascular endothelial cadherin (VE-cad) which constitutes the main component of interendothelial adherens junctions (4,12,30). This transmembrane adhesive protein plays a crucial role in the maintenance of endothelium integrity and in the modulation of its permeability (3,20). As for other members of the cadherin receptor family, VE-cad links endothelial cells together by homophilic interactions mediated by its extracellular part and associates intracellularly with -or ␥-catenin in a mutually exclusive fashion and with p120. Despite their sequence similarities, /␥-catenins and p120 bind to distinct sites on the cytoplasmic tail of VE-cad. While -catenin or ␥-catenin links to the distal part of the VE-cad cytoplasmic tail, p120 interacts with the membrane-proximal domain. These three catenins also exhibit different biological cellular roles. Whereas p120 stabilizes VE-cad at the plasma membrane (46, 47), /␥-catenins interact with ␣-catenin. Subsequently in this article, the complex formed by VE-cad and p120 ␣-, -, and ␥-catenins will be designated as the "VE-cad-based complex" or "VE-cad complex."Until recently, it wa...