Recently I have been reading a Article dealing with mutations mapping onto domains. They have used the phrase "Gene-centric" in the context of Cancer Biology, lot of times. I have searched alot and not able to find a convincing answer. Can anyone explain me what does it mean.
As others have commented, this is hard to answer without some specific context from the paper you refer to. But, in general, the phrase "gene-centric" or "gene-centered" is used to indicate conceptual or procedural distinctions of a study or viewpoint. It is used to differentiate the "gene-centric" approach from the stated or implied alternatives. For example, the gene-centric view of evolution is distinguished by its emphasis on the individual gene as the unit of evolution as opposed to say the individual-centered view of evolution. In cancer genomic studies it can be used in many, many ways. For example, a gene-centric analysis might indicate analysis is occurring at the gene locus level without the extra complication of transcript- or protein-isoform level analysis. A gene-centric approach to genome-wide association studies might indicate a specific focus on gene coding regions as opposed to non-coding regions (regulatory sequences, so-called "junk DNA" regions, etc). This emphasis on the protein-coding or transcribed regions of the genome versus non-coding or non-transcribed is probably the most frequent use for "gene-centric". In cancer biology it might also be used in a general way to distinguish between a "genomic" view versus others. For example, this paper argues that while genetic mutations (i.e., gene-centric events) are important, it is also important to consider cell-cell interactions. You might also argue the relative importance of gene-centric events versus environmental or stochastic events in cancer biology. I could go on, but I think you get the idea...
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Please post the article title.
Perhaps they are only looking at mutations that land in coding regions? Hard to say without more information, so it would be helpful if you provided a link to the article so that we can get more context.
"...searched alot and not able to find a convincing answer." Post your findings, so we can see what's missing, inconsistent, etc. My general feeling is that causes of Cancer Biology are not well understood, but the two schools of thought are: (1) cancer can be caused by a single gene gone awry (i.e. via mutation of some kind, gene centric), or that (2) cancer results as a property of the system overall, via build up of several mutations, aneuploidies, etc. (causative agents in a more complex context).