ARC( apoptosis repressor with CARD) protein expressed at high levels in the terminally differentiated tissues，such as，heart，skeletal muscle and brain，which was identified at the end of last century. ARC inhibits apoptosis at different levels. Since the specific expression of ARC in heart and antagonize apoptosis in many pathways，it became a hot-spot in recent years. With the function of anti-apoptosis，ARC has become a protecting factor for heart muscle. This review mainly focuses on the anti-apoptosis pathways and recent-year advances on ARC in cardiomyopathy.