Dataset for: Evaluation of metastatic potential of malignant cells by image processing of digital holographic microscopy data

Cell refractive index (RI) was proposed as a putative cancer biomarker of great potential, being correlated with cell content and morphology, cell division rate and membrane permeability. We used Digital Holographic Microscopy (DHM) to compare RI and dry mass density of two B16 murine melanoma sublines of different metastatic potential. Using statistical methods, the phase shifts distribution within the reconstructed quantitative phase images (QPIs) was analyzed by the method of bimodality coefficients. The observed correlation of RI and bimodality profile with the cells metastatic potential was validated by real time impedance based-assay and clonogenic tests. We suggest RI and QPIs histograms bimodality analysis to be developed as optical biomarkers useful in label-free detection and quantitative evaluation of cell metastatic potential.