Background Inflammatory bowel disease (IBD), which includes Crohn’s disease (CD) and ulcerative colitis, are chronic diseases of the gastrointestinal tract. Genetic studies have identified strong association between genes involved in autophagy, ER-stress/unfolded protein response (UPR) and IBD. Stimulating autophagy may be beneficial for the treatment of IBD, and thiopurines, a class of drugs in clinical use for IBD, have been shown to induce autophagy. The aim of this study was to investigate the mechanism of...