【Abstract】 Objective To observe the effect of cytokines and combinations in the inducement of human umbil icalcord blood-derived CD34+ cells into hepatocyte-l ike cells. Methods The mononuclear cells (MNCs) were derived by density gradient centrifugation and the CD34+ cells were sperated from MNCs. The human umbil ical cord blood-derived CD34+ cells were cultivated through 49 different combinations of cytokines including leukemia inhibitor factor (LIF), oncostatin M, bFGF, aFGF, hepatocyte growth factor, EGF and stem cell factor for 28 days, and the concentrations of the cytokines were 10, 10, 10, 10, 20, 20 and 50 ng/mL, respectively. The mRNAs of cytokeratin 19 (CK-19), CK-18, glutamine synthetase (GS), human albumin (ALB) and α-fetoprotein (AFP) were detected every seven days. The ALB secretion abil ity, detoxification abil ity and hepatin synthesis abil ity of the induced cells were detected by immunofluorescence assay, indocyanine green (ICG) and periodic acid-schiff assay, respectively. The fresh umbil ical cord blood-derived CD34+ cells were detected at the same time as a control. Results The mRNAs of CK-19, CK-18 and GS could be transcribed in all the induced cells, but the transcription of the mRNAs of ALB and AFP which was the special mark of mature hepatocyte and l iver stem cell, respectively, was not found. All the mRNAs could not be found in freshly isolated umbil ical cord blood-derived CD34+ cells. All the cells induced in vitro could not release ALB, and not help the detoxification of ICG which was the fundamental function of mature l iver cells. These results were the same in the control group. The hepatin synthesis abil ity of all the induced cells increased by comparison to the fresh ones. Conclusion Though some mRNAs of proteins which are transcribed in hepatocytes can be found in the induced cells, umbil ical cord blood-derived CD34+ cells could not be transdifferentiated into hepatocyte-l ike cells through cytokines in vitro.