Objective An adeno associated virus (AAV)vector targeted to hepatoma cells was constructed in order to be used in the apoptosis inducing gene therapy of liver cancer. Methods Firstly, primers containing specific enzyme cutting sites was designed and used to amplify the alpha fetoprotein promoter(AFP promoter) from human genome; Secondly, the promoter was cloned into the eukyrocyte expressing plasmid pTR UF5,resulting in the recombinant AAV vector plasmid containing the reporter gene( rAAV AFP GFP ); thirdly, blunted ligation was applied to construct the recombinant AAV vector plasmid containing the p53 gene( rAAV AFP p53 ). Results Recombinant adeno associated virus plasmid was constructed successfully that carried human wild type p53 gene under the control of human AFP promoter. Conclusion Theoretically the recombinant adeno associated virus plasmid rAAV AFP p53 we constructed could be used in gene therapy for hepatocellular carcinoma.