The apoptotic regulatory protein ARC (apoptosis repressor with caspase recruitment domain) prevents oxidant stress-mediated cell death by preserving mitochondrial function.

ARC is an apoptotic regulatory protein expressed almost exclusively in myogenic cells. It contains a caspase recruitment domain (CARD) through which it has been shown to block the activation of some initiator caspases. Because ARC also blocks caspase-independent events associated with apoptosis, such as hypoxia-induced cytochrome c release, we examined its role in cell death triggered by exposure to hydrogen peroxide (H(2)O(2)) in the myogenic cell line, H9c2. Cell death in this model was caspase-independent and characterized by dose-dependent reduction in ARC expression accompanied by disruption of the mitochondrial membrane potential (Delta psi(m)) and loss of plasma membrane integrity, typical of necrotic cell death. Ectopic expression of ARC prevented both H(2)O(2)-induced mitochondrial dysfunction and cell death without affecting the stress kinase response, suggesting that ARCs protective effects were downstream of early signaling events and not due to quenching of H(2)O(2). ARC was also effective in blocking H(2)O(2)-induced loss of membrane integrity and/or disruption of Delta psi(m) in two human cell lines in which it is not normally expressed. These results demonstrate that, in addition to its ability to block caspase-dependent and -independent events in apoptosis, ARC also prevents necrosis-like cell death via the preservation of mitochondrial function.