[nudephil (OP)]

Roy and Tracey ask:

Can cartilage re-grow in the human body?

[alancalverd]

Yes. Spontaneous repair is unlikely because cartilage is used in areas of stress and movement, but you can seed cells onto a "scaffold" which can be implanted into the damaged joint as an active repair.

[Edwina Lee]

Many people will start crying when cartilege regeneration becomes a widely available treatment.

Standford has made the most fundamental break through  : 2020-08-17

https://med.stanford.edu/news/all-news/2020/08/Researchers-find-method-to-regrow-cartilage-in-the-joints.html

[evan_au]

when cartilege regeneration becomes a widely available treatment.

Presumably, inducing controlled damage to the existing cartilage could be done via a laparoscopic procedure, under general anesthetic.
- And injecting the various chemical factors directly to the joint could be done via injection into the joint, under local anesthetic.

You would not want to infuse anticancer drugs to the entire patient; keeping it localized to the surgical area is much safer.

There is still a long process to go through Phase 1, 2 and 3 trials of a procedure like this.
- It sounds like they have a low-risk path mapped out, starting with easily-accessible finger joints, before they move onto major load-bearing joints like knees and hips.

[Bored chemist]

I understand that pierced ears close up if given a chance.
At that level spontaneous healing of cartilage is commonplace.
Torn tendons can be repaired etc.