Antibody antagonists of VE-cadherin without adverse effects on vascular permeability

An antibody or an antibody fragment capable of specifically binding to any one of the group selected from

• a site on a VE-cadherin, said site being within the about 15 N-terminal amino acids of domain 1 of a VE-cadherin,
• a site on a VE-cadherin, said site being within the about 15 N-terminal amino acids of domain 1 of a VE-cadherin and said N-terminal amino acids having an insertion, deletion or substitution of from 1 to about 5 amino acids relative to a native VE-cadherin amino acid sequence,
• a peptide having an amino acid sequence of SEQ ID NO:
• 1 (DEIWNQMHIDEEKNE),
• a peptide having an amino acid sequence of SEQ ID NO:
• 2 (DWIWNQMHIDEEKNE), and
• a peptide having an amino acid sequence of SEQ ID NO:
• 3 (DWIWNQMHIDEEKNT);
• wherein said antibody or said antibody fragment is capable of inhibiting VE-cadherin mediated adherens junction formation in vitro but does not exert any significant or substantial effect on paracellular permeability in vitro.