MAFB and chronic hepatitis C virus infection: Thus, we hypothesized that MafB-induced type I IFN reduction in CD14+ monocytes might also take part in the formation of viral persistence in patients with chronic hepatitis C. To test this possibility, we investigated the effect of MafB inhibition in purified CD14+ monocytes from chronic hepatitis C patients on IFN-α1/β production, viral replication, and CD4+ T cells differentiation in vitro.